Punctuation in British English

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I have been told that in British English, If a complete sentence in quotes comes at the end of a larger sentence, the final stop should be inside the quotation mark.

But if quote an author's words within a sentence, then should I put a comma outside the quotation mark? As in:

Cognitive Linguistics constitutes "a cluster of many partially overlapping approaches", according to Brown (2003: 23).

I would really appreciate your help.

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Yes. If the quotation does not include any punctuation, the closing inverted commas should precede any punctuation marks that the sentence requires.

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@Nat093,

I don'g know why, Natr, but over here the comma comes first, even though it seems illogical

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@centrox,

Thank you.

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@centrox,

My immediate rumination, 'My answer, "I have also ruminated that ' "closing inverted commas" should precede any punctuation marks that the sentence 'I have also.... 'requires' " ' " '.

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@centrox,

I would like to repeat my question which remains unanswered:

I often read in books that in British English comma is put outside the quotation mark in sentences like the ones given below:

'We don’t want to go on holiday to the same place every year', he said impatiently.

'I'll go with you', she said.

Could you tell me please it these sentences are punctuated correctly? What is the rule?

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@Nat093,

Nat093 wrote:

I would like to repeat my question which remains unanswered:

It was completely answered thus:

Quote:

If the quotation does not include any punctuation, the closing inverted commas should precede any punctuation marks that the sentence requires.

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@centrox,

Since I always learn through examples, let me give you one:

John said: I'm leaving tomorrow.

Then, I would say: 'I'm leaving tomorrow,' John said.

Is that right? If so, I suppose that in situations involving direct speech, commas usually go inside quotation marks becuase they are part of the quoted material.

I asked about that beacuse some books cite examples like:

'Come here', he told me. (where the comma goes outside the quotation marks)

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@Nat093,

Nat, I believe Cen is telling you that your q's have already been answered so perhaps you should try rephrasing 'em

Cen, is that right or am I still wandering around in the apparent dark

Quote:

Quote:
If ..., the closing inverted commas should precede any ...

Example; the speedreader is stopped by 'closing inverted commas,' since they appear not to be inverted, only elevated

No offense Cen, just sorta kiddin'

...sorta

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@Nat093,

Nat093 wrote:

John said: I'm leaving tomorrow.

Then, I would say: 'I'm leaving tomorrow,' John said.

Is that right? If so, I suppose that in situations involving direct speech, commas usually go inside quotation marks becuase they are part of the quoted material.

There is no comma in your quoted material.

Quote:

I asked about that beacuse some books cite examples like:

'Come here', he told me. (where the comma goes outside the quotation marks)

Those books are correct.

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@centrox,

You said that:
'If the quotation does not include any punctuation, the closing inverted commas should precede any punctuation marks that the sentence requires.'

But the sentence 'I'm leaving tomorrow.' does include punctuation (i.e. the period at the end). That is why I thought that in direct speech, a comma is placed where a period would go.

So if the books are correct, I should place the comma outside the quotes? As in:

'I'm leaving tomorrow', John said.

1 Reply

@Nat093,

Cen I'm gonna hafta agree with Nat, as I've asked myself the same q

To old me the World isd a lot more complex than with you fellas so forgive me if I seem to bother ya. For instance with the last sentence I can't understand how gmy pc can'r edgognize 'isd' as a misspelling of 'is' or 'gmy' of 'my'

...or 'edgognize' of 'recognize'

I've wondered whether the spelling ed.s are selected on the basis of a low min iq

Yes yes I realize 'ed.s' isn't the usu way but I thought I might energize another TAATANE

Just kiddin' Nat, love ya
...that is if you're real

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