Comma and full stop (GB) or period (US)

British and US English differ in the position of the comma and full stop or period at the end of quotations:

  • If you are writing in British English, place the full stop or comma inside the closing quotation mark if it is part of the quotation, and outside if it is not
  • If you are writing in US English, always place the period or comma inside the closing quotation mark

Compare the following examples:

British English

‘Democracy is the worst form of government except all those other forms that have been tried from time to time.’
Winston Churchill

It was all very well to say ‘Drink me’, but the wise little Alice was not going to do that in a hurry.
Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Although the Anti-Apartheid and American Civil Rights Movements campaigned for ‘One man, one vote’, their slogan today would be ‘One person, one vote’.

US English

“It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task … that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”
Abraham Lincoln, Gettysburg Address

It was all very well to say “Drink me,” but the wise little Alice was not going to do that in a hurry.
Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland

Although the Anti-Apartheid and American Civil Rights Movements campaigned for “One man, one vote,” their slogan today would be “One person, one vote.”

Semicolon and colon

In both British and US English, always place semicolons and colons outside the end of quotations:

The American Declaration of Independence includes ‘the pursuit of happiness’; the Universal Declaration of Human Rights includes ‘the right to rest and leisure’ and the right to holidays with pay.

Dash, question mark, and exclamation mark (GB) or point (US)

In both US and British English, place a dash, question mark, exclamation mark or exclamation point inside the final quotation mark if it is part of the quotation, and outside if it is not:

Employees soon understood the meaning of ‘downsizing’ – redundancy.

The film version of ‘Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?’ starred Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton.

What can we say about Virginia Woolf’s ‘To the Lighthouse’?