2.1.2 Quotation Marks

Use American-style placement for quotation marks: periods and commas normally go inside closing quotation marks, whether the quotation marks are double or single.

• “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the Law.”
• The phrase “under will,” though often repeated, is not always explained carefully.

Exceptions may be made in close textual, linguistic, or philological discussion, where it is important to show that the punctuation is not part of the quoted word or phrase. In such cases, punctuation may be placed outside the quotation marks when clarity requires it. For more on these exceptions, see CMS17.

Use single quotation marks for a quotation within a quotation.

• The lecturer said, “Crowley’s phrase ‘the method of science, the aim of religion’ is often quoted as a summary of his approach.”

Question marks and exclamation points go inside the quotation marks only when they belong to the quoted material. Otherwise, they remain outside.

• Did the speaker really say “Do what thou wilt”?
• The question posed by the text is “Who am I, and what shall be the sign?”
• “There is no law beyond Do what thou wilt!” he declared.

Colons and semicolons go outside quotation marks.

• The essay discusses “love under will”; it does not treat the phrase as a mere slogan.

Do not use quotation marks around block quotations. If a quotation appears within a block quotation, use double quotation marks for the internal quotation.