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There's no specific rule but I think it's handled the same way we do American/English spellings in that either is fine and changing things is unnecessary at best
Edited by MacronNotes Macron's notesThe British style would still be
As an American, I've always understood to put the period/full stop inside the quotation if the quote contained the end of a full sentence, but if the quote is a fragment of what was said, the punctuation goes outside.
That is,
"Alice said, 'Bob went out.'" would be used if that was the sentence she said. But
"Alice said Bob 'went out'."
is a different matter. I'd leave the punctuation out of the quote because it's not a complete statement quoted in this case.
I don't consider myself qualified to write a style guide and for an issue like this, there probably doesn't need to be a rule.
It's one of those obscure bits of English grammar that there is no "official" word on, so neither is "more correct" than the other.
Personally, I tend to put the punctuation outside the quotes because that makes more sense to me, but as far as the wiki's concerned, I think first-come-first-served applies here.
I was taught in school (US, 1980s) that the closing punctuation goes inside the quotes, no matter what. However, English classes & grammar Nazis often fail to realize that a living language *changes* over time, due to how people actually use it (though I admit that I will fight the your/you're confusers to the bitter end).
The current way I'm seeing quote marks used seems to depend on what the punctuation belongs to and makes more sense. If it belong to the actual quoted words, it goes inside the quotes. If it belongs to the overall sentence, outside the quotes. Example:
Alice yelled, "I hate you!" (punctuation is part of the quoted words, as dialogue).
What did Alice yell, "I hate you" or "I ate you"? (punctuation belongs to the overall question/sentence, not to the actual quotes)
Edited by FranksGirl

So, what's the correct way to use punctuation marks inside quotes?
This: Alice said, "Hello world."
Or this: Alice said, "Hello world".
Some use the former (I think it's the American style), while others, myself included, use the latter (European style).
Is there a wiki-wide rule about quotes, or if it's "first come first served", like spelling? Furthermore, is it okay to change one form for the other?
Edited by RoundRobin