No.15: About Grammar

I think one of the biggest problems with my grammar is I don’t know when to use a period inside or outside of a quotation mark. What I usually do is put a period outside the quotation mark no matter what, because I think it’s the end of the sentence and periods are used to end a sentence, but not quotation marks. However, on the punctuation worksheet we did the other day in class, I got all the questions relating to periods and quotation marks wrong. Today I finally did the research on this problem.

The following is a quote from the Quotation Marks: Where Do the Commas and Periods Go--and Why? by Tina Blue that I got from the Internet:

“When it comes to commas and periods, though, logic doesn't enter into the equation, at least not in the United States. Universal American usage places commas and periods inside the quotation marks, regardless of logic: "Diane," she said, "put the book down and go outside for a little while."

“This rule applies even when the unit enclosed at the end of the sentence is just a single word rather than an actual quotation: To get to the next page, just press the little button marked "Enter."

“The only exception is when that last little item enclosed in quotation marks is just a letter or a number, in which case the period or comma will go outside the closing quotation marks: The buried treasure was marked on the map with a large "X".”

The research explains the usage of periods and quotation marks pretty well and I understand better now. Hopefully, I will be able to apply these rules on my worksheet or in my paper.