ChanteSez … You can quote me, part 2

Last week’s ChanteSez was about the use of punctuation with quote marks.  My advice was to quote everything within a quote. The key word there is “within.”

That is, whatever punctuation was necessary to indicate what someone said — or how they said it — should go within the quote marks.

If the quote was a question, was said with force, or was simply a complete thought, the appropriate punctuation belongs inside the quote marks.

• “Do people understand the power of proper punctuation?” she asked.
• “I am so ready to go to Miami!” he said.
• “If you come home with another C,” his mom yelled, “no Facebook or Twitter for two weeks!”

The only time you wouldn’t include punctuation inside the quote marks is if you, the writer, are asking a question or making a statement of force, unbelief, etc., about the quote.

In the first example below, my colleague at Terribly Write is asking a question about the quote. (Thank you, Laura, for making sure I clarified this rule!)

• Are you saying, “Put all punctuation inside quotation marks”?
• There’s never been an adage more true than “Put your money where your mouth is”!