TransWikia.com

Okay, so I have a question regarding quotations and commas

English Language & Usage Asked by Wesley Guan on September 7, 2020

Basically I was writing a small prompt about relationships and was thinking about the general rules (I mean professionally writing not in the British way), you put a comma inside quotation of a quote but outside for a phrase if I’m not wrong. So here’s what I wrote: [[ there’s the phrase, “there’s plenty more fish in the sea”, ]] You get the point, I wasn’t clear whether that saying is a phrase or a quote and also if the comma goes inside the quotation. Thanks otherwise.

One Answer

If you are British, the comma goes outside of the quotations (in this case). If you are American, the comma goes inside of the quotations (in every case).


In British English, commas are only written inside quotations if they were in the original quote. Also, you place a comma at the end of a quote if you are quoting a whole sentence (this doesn't apply to this case but is still worth mentioning). In this case, the original quote was just:

There's plenty more fish in the sea [no comma]

so the comma goes outside of the quotations.


In American English, commas are always written inside quotations, regardless of whether it was there in the original quote.

Answered by John B. on September 7, 2020

Add your own answers!

Ask a Question

Get help from others!

© 2024 TransWikia.com. All rights reserved. Sites we Love: PCI Database, UKBizDB, Menu Kuliner, Sharing RPP