punctuation - What do you do when you end the first part of a compound sentence with a quote?





How should I punctuate around quotes?



For example, if I want to show someone's response in the same sentence, what would I do?


Would the comma from the end of the quote be enough?



He said, "Get me a drink," but I didn't want to.



Because this looks weird:



He said, "Get me a drink,", but I didn't want to.



What if the quote end with a question?



He said, "Will you get me a drink?" but I didn't want to.



I think that I would need a comma somewhere.



He said, "Will you get me a drink?," but I didn't want to.


He said, "Will you get me a drink?", but I didn't want to.



The ?," looks better to me, but I don't know. How do you do it?



Answer



The "American rule" is that question marks and exclamations go inside the quote if they are part of the quote, otherwise outside. Periods and commas go inside the quote.


The "British rule" is that all punctuation goes inside the quote if it is part of the quote and outside otherwise.


If there is a comma or semi-colon inside the quote under either rule, do not put another one outside the quote. Any other punctuation does not affect the use of commas and semi-colons.


So under the British rule you would write:



He said, "Get me a drink", but I didn't want to.



Under the American rule:



He said, "Get me a drink," but I didn't want to.



Under either rule:



He said, "Will you get me a drink?", but I didn't want to.



As the names imply, the British rule is generally used in Britain and the American rule in the US, but some Americans use the British rule. I don't know if many Britons use the American rule.


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