When do commas go inside quotations

Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use. Use a comma to introduce a quotation after a standard dialogue tag, a brief introductory phrase, or a dependent clause. Place a question mark or exclamation point within closing quotation marks if the punctuation applies to the quotation itself.

Grammarly will make sure your writing is clear and mistake-free. Get Grammarly. You could do it like this:. John said he hated when it was hot outside.

The first sentence contains a direct quote , a quote in which you report the exact words John used. The second sentence contains an indirect quote , which is a paraphrased version of what John said. Quotation marks are used only with direct quotes. Direct quotations come in two different forms: run-in and block. Run-in quotations are shorter and they are formatted the same as the surrounding text. Block quotes are long quotes that are separated from the surrounding text.

Usually, they appear as a separate paragraph or series of paragraphs with a different font, a change in the line spacing, or a wider margin. When a run-in quotation contains quotation marks within the quoted material itself, use single quotation marks in their place. When the material being quoted contains a quotation within a quotation i.

Quotation marks can be used when referring to a specific word or letter. Some writers instead use italics for this purpose, as I have in this guide. As an alternative to parentheses , quotation marks can be used to enclose a translation. In this case, it is necessary to set the translation off with commas. Less commonly, single quotation marks are used in place of parentheses, in which case the translation is not set off with commas.

Also, any punctuation otherwise required by the structure of the sentence is placed outside the single quotation marks. Additionally, periods and commas are intuitively go outside quotation marks, instead of inside.

For the sake of this article however, we will concentrate on the American system, where single quotations are used as the primary quotation marks and double for a quote within a quote. And where punctuation marks go inside quotes for the most part.

According to the American system, you have to insert commas and periods inside the quotation marks. For example:. Remember that periods and commas are placed inside quotation marks even if only the last word of the sentence is in quotation marks and even when there are single quotation marks inside of double.

Exclamation marks and question marks can go either outside or in , depending on the meaning behind the sentence in your quotation. In the first example, the phrase that is being exclaimed is in quotation marks. Therefore, the exclamation mark is contained within the quote. However, in the second example, the larger sentence is the question, therefore the question mark is placed outside.