The colon should be placed outside the quotation marks, unless a part of the quotation. The semicolon is always placed inside the quotation marks. The comma is always placed inside the quotation marks.
The semicolon should be placed outside the quotation marks, unless a part of the quotation. Whereas colons and semicolons rise to the level of lowercase letters question marks and exclamation points are even taller , commas and periods hug the baseline.
Quotation marks, on the other hand, float in the ether, aligning themselves near the tops of the capital letters. So when a comma or a period precedes a quotation mark, it tends to appear as much below the mark as to its left, particularly in the proportional typefaces used for most published works since Gutenberg and now the default in everything from text-messaging apps to word processors. Thanks to the style sheets working in the background, the text approximates the well-kerned appearance of proportional fonts in modern published works:.
A design professional using a program like Adobe InDesign would do even better. But notice how the commas and the period in the example of Chicago style appear consistently right next to the words they follow test , know , life , creating a pleasing uniformity along the baseline. In British style, placement is interrupted by the quotation marks, though the gap is smaller than it would be with double rather than single marks. Of the two styles, Chicago is the easier one to apply.
Neither writers nor their editors have to stop to determine in each case whether a comma or period belongs to the quoted text or to the surrounding context. This is a test, so pay attention. Punctuation is the key to everything. You get some credit for noticing the single versus double quotation marks.
No editor wants to wade through the thousands of lines of dialogue typical of a conventionally written novel to figure out in each case whether a comma would be needed without the narrative interruption. As for periods, they pose less of a problem, at least for complete sentences. Neither system is perfect. Exceptions like that one are rare in most contexts, but if your text depends on that level of precision, by all means break the rule, as I just did—and point to CMOS 7.
A period precedes closing quotation marks, whether double or single. Colons and semicolons — unlike periods and commas — follow closing quotation marks.
A question mark always follows closing quotation marks. A comma goes after the quotation marks. In an alternative system, sometimes called British style, only those punctuation points that appeared in the original material should be included within the quotation marks. Chicago style. Not Chicago style. Your e-mail address Subscribe Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter! Share this article: Link to facebook Link to linkedin Link to twitter.
Sign up for our newsletter. Comments 4. What are the guidelines for author-date citing of an online article which does not have page numbers? Is the page number simply omitted? Chicago referencing says that, when a source does not include page numbers, you can cite a chapter or paragraph number if available , a section heading, or a descriptive phrase that follows the organizational divisions of the work. However, for shorter electronic works presented as a single, searchable document e.
Chet Weld. My editor is indenting the first line of all block quotations. I've never seen this before. I can't find it in the CMS where this is ever the case. Some blocks are followed by footnotes, and some are not. My editor is conforming my book to Chicago Style. Can you direct me to the CMS rule that says to indent the first line of a block quotation or to not do it? Thanks for advising! Hi, Chet. On the indentation, I believe the section you need from CMoS is '2.
The first line should not have an additional paragraph indent.
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