Hello,
Should I use the full spot if the sentence ends with a quote? If there is a “full stop”(BrE)/period(AmE) at the end of the quote, do I have to use one more “full stop”(BrE)/period(AmE) right after quotation marks?
He says “I was innocent**.**”
or
He says "I was innocent**.".**
or
He says “I was innocent”.
Thank you.
According to the traditional rules, this sentence would be punctuated:
He says**,** “I was innocent**.**”
This particular sentence would be punctuated the same way in both British and American English.
The double period is pretty common around the SDMB (and perhaps elsewhere), but there aren’t too many grammar authorities that approve of it.
I don’t believe that to be the case: Link.
I bet it is because many smartphones have a feature that automatically adds a period after two spaces. So if you type out a quote and put the punctuation inside the quote, then hit the space bar twice, the phone will add another period outside of the quotes.
Let’s not discuss whether two spaces are actually required after a sentence. We should try to be civil.
I… ah… urk… grrrm…
Damn you.
From further down in the link:
That last sentence is punctuated in the same way as my response to the OP. (Well, except for the colons.)
The differences between the American and British styles comes out mostly in things like:
The film was described as “silly**,” “nonsensical,” and “weird.” (American)
The film was described as “silly”,** “nonsensical”, and “weird”. (British)
yeah, civility with regards to this is hard.
grrrr
It’s an academic argument anyway, at least for vBulletin users. You can put as many blank spaces as you like after a period (or anywhere else), and vBulletin removes all but one of them.
grrrr