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In English writing, quotation marks or inverted commas, also known informally as quotes, talking marks, [1] [2] speech marks, [3] quote marks, quotemarks or speechmarks, are punctuation marks placed on either side of a word or phrase in order to identify it as a quotation, direct speech or a literal title or name.
For example, "Stop!" has the punctuation inside the quotation marks because the word "stop" is said with emphasis. However, when using "scare quotes", the comma goes outside. Other examples: Arthur said the situation was "deplorable". (The full stop (period) is not part of the quotation.)
Quotation marks [A] are punctuation marks used in pairs in various writing systems to identify direct speech, a quotation, or a phrase.The pair consists of an opening quotation mark and a closing quotation mark, which may or may not be the same glyph. [3]
Various observations: The comma and period inside the quotes "look better" only when true typography is used to place the quote over the punctuation, so that's not really an argument for doing it. My arguments for doing it come from Chicago and many other American style guides, but most acknowledge the historic reasons for the punctuation order.
When punctuating quoted passages, put punctuation where it belongs, inside or outside the quotation marks, depending on the meaning, not rigidly within the quotation marks. This is the British style. This sound appealing; even as an American, I have never quite accepted the idea that punctuation should go inside the quotes as often as style ...
Quotations must always be clearly identified as such using double quotation marks ("quoted text") for quotations shorter than about 40 words. For quotations longer than 40 words, use the HTML tag <blockquote>like this around quoted material</blockquote> or the template {{ Quote }} , which has optional parameters to include citations.
Where subtitle punctuation is unclear (e.g. because the subtitle is given on a separate line on the cover or a poster), use a colon and a space, not a dash, comma, or other punctuation, to separate the title elements. If there are two subtitles, a dash can be used between the second and third elements.
In particular, British usages (yes, they are plural) tend to put punctuation outside of quotations even when it does belong there logically. The Guardian Style Guide, for example, says "Place full points and commas inside the quotes for a complete quoted sentence; otherwise the point comes outside."