Does The Period Go After The Quotation Marks

If the description of the quote’s speaker is placed after the quotation, a comma is always placed within the quotation marks. In american usage, commas and periods at the end of quotes always go inside the quotation marks. Otherwise, the punctuation mark goes outside the quotation marks.

The period shows where the sentence ends: British publishers tend to put the comma or period after the quotation mark. In the united states, the rule of thumb is that commas and periods always go inside the quotation marks, and colons and semicolons (dashes as well) go outside:

The final period or comma goes inside the quotation marks, even if it is not a part of the quoted material, unless the quotation is followed by a citation.

We just do it that way. Commas and periods that are part of the overall sentence go inside the quotation marks, even though they aren’t part of the original quotation. Commas and periods always go inside quotation marks, while semicolons and colons always go outside, in all cases involving quotation marks (again, american usage, not british usage). In american usage, commas and periods at the end of quotes always go inside the quotation marks.