"When it comes to cake," Jessica said, "chocolate cake takes the cake." If the quotation continues with a new sentence after an explanatory interruption, use a period at the end of the interruption and continue the quotation with a capital letter where the new sentence begins.
Quotation Marks with Commas, Periods, and Other Punctuation
In American English, commas and periods should be placed within the quotation marks as long as they do not change the meaning of the quotation.
Quotations within a Quotation
Use single quotation marks to enclose quotes within another quotation.
If you're quoting a complete sentence within your sentence, end the quotation with the punctuation used in the original (unless it's a period), then use a closing quotation mark and continue your sentence, as I've just done above.
Similar to a question mark, when a quote has an exclamation mark, the quotation marks should go after the exclamation point. If the sentence does have an exclamation point, but the quote does not, then the exclamation point goes outside of the quotation marks.
1. The final period or comma goes inside the quotation marks, even if it is not a part of the quoted material, unless the quotation is followed by a citation.
When a speaker's words in dialogue extend to more than one paragraph, use an opening quotation mark at the beginning of each paragraph. Use a closing quotation mark, however, only at the end of the person's speech, not at the end of every paragraph.
Commas are used to set off the quote from the rest of the sentence. When the comma comes after the quote, it should go inside the quotes. So should a period, exclamation point, or question mark.
Quotation with an omission from the middle of one sentence to the end of another: In order to signify that a sentence is missing, MLA (Modern Language Association) uses brackets to separate the ellipsis and the period that ends the sentence.
Quotation interrupted in the middle of a sentence
When the annunciatory clause falls in the middle of a sentence, use a comma and closing quotation marks before it, and a comma and opening quotation marks after it.
In American English, you should always place a comma or period inside the quotation marks. That means the comma should always come right before the closing quotation mark, even if it's not part of the quoted material.
Quotation marks always come in pairs. Do not open a quotation and fail to close it at the end of the quoted material. Capitalize the first letter of a direct quote when the quoted material is a complete sentence.
Rule: The question mark (inside the closing quotation mark) ends the sentence; no period. She kept asking, “Why me?” The question mark (inside the closing quotation mark) ends the sentence; no additional question mark.
Periods and Commas
In the American Style of writing, the period will appear before the last quotation mark to enclose the quoted sentence. Example: She said, “I will be visiting my friend's place later today.” If a sentence contains multiple quotes, the period is placed before all the final quotation marks.
In American English, a quote that comes at the end of a sentence will contain a period inside the final quotation marks. ✅ Correct: She said, “Goodbye.” ❌ Incorrect: She said, “Goodbye”.
Additional information. Whereas brackets are used to enclose interruptions within a quote, parentheses are used to enclose additional information in expressions that are not quoted. Melissa (Elizabeth's neighbor) came over with free Girl Scout cookies.
Fragments are incomplete sentences. Usually, fragments are pieces of sentences that have become disconnected from the main clause. One of the easiest ways to correct them is to remove the period between the fragment and the main clause. Other kinds of punctuation may be needed for the newly combined sentence.
If the narrative element comes in the middle of the quotation, add one comma to the end of the first part of the quotation, and another comma after the narrative element. The quotation will end with a period.
The text after the block quotation begins on its own line, with no indentation. You should not end a paragraph with a block quotation because any quotation you use as evidence in your writing should be followed by analysis in your own words as part of the same paragraph.
If you're quoting two or more paragraphs, place opening quotation marks at the beginning of each new paragraph. However, place closing quotation marks only at the end of the entire passage, not at the end of each paragraph.
Use double quotation marks (“”) around a direct quote. A direct quote is a word- for-word report of what someone else said or wrote. You use the exact words and punctuation of the original. Harriet Jacobs writes, “She sat down, quivering in every limb” (61).
Example: “John thinks that this brother [Jeff] will be a great dad,” said Andrew. Use quotation marks if the word or words are meant to imply irony or sarcasm. Example: The mayor told the people of his town that he “cares” about their well-being. Use quotation marks to highlight certain words within a sentence.
To do the summary, rephrase the quotation in your own words. You can begin this sentence by using a phrase such as “In other words…” or “This refers to…” Example: In other words, communism throws out all beliefs, not only ones that counter communism. Analyzing a quotation is much different from summarizing a quotation.
If you still want to avoid the sentence-ending preposition, you can try rephrasing to avoid the need for a preposition: I didn't know what he was talking about. I didn't know about what he was talking.