In American English, where should the period go with quotation marks?

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Multiple Choice

In American English, where should the period go with quotation marks?

Explanation:
In American English, periods and commas go inside the quotation marks. When you report speech with an introductory tag, you place a comma after the tag and before the opening quotation mark. The quoted material itself ends with a period inside the quotation marks. So the correct form is: He said, "Meet me at five." This keeps the comma after the introductory phrase and places the period inside the quotes to end the spoken sentence. The other forms mix up the punctuation by putting the period outside the quotes or misplacing the comma.

In American English, periods and commas go inside the quotation marks. When you report speech with an introductory tag, you place a comma after the tag and before the opening quotation mark. The quoted material itself ends with a period inside the quotation marks.

So the correct form is: He said, "Meet me at five." This keeps the comma after the introductory phrase and places the period inside the quotes to end the spoken sentence. The other forms mix up the punctuation by putting the period outside the quotes or misplacing the comma.

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