Punctuation at the End of Quotes: A Guide to Proper Punctuation

A number of writers seem to struggle with proper punctuation at the end of quotes. Should you put a period or a comma before the closing quotes? The answer is that it depends on whether the end of the quote is also the end of the sentence that contains it. If a quote is not part of a larger sentence, it should always end with a period. However, if a quote is only one part of a sentence, the punctuation at the end of quote depends on whether the larger sentence continues after the quote.

When to Use a Period
Use a period to end a quote if it is also the end of the sentence containing it. For example:

He said, "I'll check into that."

In this example, the quote ends with a period because it is the end of the larger sentence. Now here is a more complicated example:

John muttered, "I know something is wrong." He peered deeper inside and pointed. "There it is."

This example shows a sentence that contains a quote, followed by another entirely separate sentence. This is then followed by a second quote which is an entire sentence in itself. The first quote ends with a period because it is the end of the larger sentence. The second quote also ends in a period because it is also the end of a a sentence (because it is a sentence all by itself).

When to Use a Comma
Use a comma if the quote is part of a larger sentence and the sentence continues after the end of the quote. For example:

"I'm going to need some help," he said, and turned to the crowd.

This is a very common usage of quotes, especially at the beginning of a paragraph. The quote is part of a larger sentence, which continues with a "he/she said" tag. A comma is used here because the end of the quote is not the end of the sentence. Now here is a less common example:

"I'd like someone to tell me," he said, "exactly how to fix this problem."

Here you see that the quote is part of a larger sentence containing a "he/she said" tag but that tag appears in the middle of the quote. This can be confusing because it looks similar to the second example above. The difference here is that the "he/she said" tag actually breaks up the sentence within the quote, so the end of the sentence is not at the end of the first quote nor after the "he/she said" tag. Therefore both of these must end with commas. The end of the second quote is the end of the larger sentence so it gets a period.

What if I Want to Use a Question Mark?!
Other punctuation that can be used at the end of a sentence such as exclamation points and question marks can be used in either case. The need to identify a question or an exclamation overrides the need to clearly show whether the sentence is ending or not. The following are both valid:

"Can you help me?" he asked.

He turned to face his original questioner and demanded, "What must I do to get some help?"

Summary
Choosing the proper punctuation can seem intimidating at first, but it's not as hard as it might look. With practice it will quickly become second nature. Follow these simple guidelines whenever you are unsure of the proper punctuation to use:
- Periods belong at the end of the sentence and nowehere else.
- Use commas to mark the end of quotes everywhere else, and also as a lead in to a quote.
- When a quote would end with a question mark or exclamation point, leave it in regardless of whether a larger sentence continues after the quote.