Grammar Girl here. This week I have a quick and dirty tip about where you put periods and

commas relative to quotation marks. An excerpt from a Munchet's book, Bad English, about

people who have successfully and not so successfully made up words. And a tidbit about what constituted

a grammar error in 1921. A few days ago, Daniel from Ohio wrote in asking if I would do a refresher

on when to put periods and commas inside quotation marks. It's one of the most common punctuation

questions I get and there's a reason everyone is confused. The rules in American English

are different from the rules in British English. So if you regularly read American and British

publications like say maybe the BBC and CNN websites, you'll see it done in different ways.

In American English, we use a hard and fast rule that was supposedly designed by

composers to protect the tiny commas and periods. We always put periods and commas inside the

closing quotation mark. In British English, they use rules that require the writer to determine

whether the period or comma belong with the quotation or are part of the larger sentence.

Early champions of this logical system were H. W. Fowler and F. G. Fowler, who wrote the classic 1906

British usage guide, the King is English. In it, the brothers noted that they were in conflict with

the compositors, but they believed their system was the best. Don't we all? It appears that they won

their battle in the UK, but not in the US. In short, my US centric memory trick is to remember that

inside the US periods and commas go inside the closing quotation mark. If you want to know about

mixing other punctuation marks with quotation marks, search my website for quotation marks with

periods and commas. That article on quick and dirty tips.com has information about other punctuation

marks too. And that was your quick and dirty tip. Before we go on, I have a PIVORS announcement.

I've mailed nearly all the rewards from the crowdfunding project, but there were a few people for

whom we don't have a complete address and who we haven't been able to reach. Kimberly from

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