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Grammar Check: Quotation Marks with Commas and Periods

Where to place commas and periods in relation to closing quotation marks

Posted Mon, Sep 16, 2013 at 9:13 am ET

Where should you put your punctuation: inside or outside closing quotation marks?

Today I will discuss commas and periods.

Commas and periods, in American English, always go inside closing quotation marks. For example:

“I want rice with dinner,” Bob said.

Bob said, “I want rice with dinner.”

This sounds simple, but it is likely the most common punctuation error I see and correct.

The rule is solid: Always place commas and periods inside closing quotation marks, regardless of where the quotation falls in the sentence.

Exclamation points, question marks, semicolons, and colons follow different rules. I will post about those next time.

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