quotation marks

Closing quotation marks follow commas and periods ending the statement being quoted (“Tuberculosis is devastating,” he said.) In other words, commas and periods should be inside quotation marks in every use.

Dashes, colons, semicolons, question marks and exclamation points should be inside the quotation marks when they apply to the quoted matter only: “To be or not to be?” They go outside when they apply to the whole sentence: Do you know how to spell “Guillain-Barré syndrome”? The registrar declared that “students must register first”; additional regulations are listed below.

For a quote within a quote, bookend the internal quotation within single quotation marks (‘ ’): “I always pass on the left because, as my father used to say, ‘You shouldn’t get careless on a highway.’” Otherwise, use double quotation marks in the body of the text.

If a quote extends through more than one paragraph, place quotation marks at the beginning of each paragraph and closing quotation marks at the end of the last paragraph. Close quotes at the end of intervening paragraphs are not necessary.

When quoting someone who has already been identified (where no attribution after the quote is necessary), use “Smith said” not “said Smith.” If additional credentials or attribution are needed, then the order “said Smith, who is also the head of the department” is acceptable.