When Does The Period Go Outside The Quotation Marks

In the united states, the rule of thumb is that commas and periods always go inside the quotation marks, and colons and semicolons (dashes as well) go outside: American style guides, such as associated press (ap), modern language association (mla), and the chicago manual of style (chicago), all follow the american rule when it comes to commas and periods. He said, we need to tell the boss right away. she reported that the boss was, in her words, miffed.

Does the period at the end of the quote go inside or outside of the quotation marks? I found a cherry pie by the window sill. The punctuation for the sentence goes after the parenthesis.

The mla handbook notes, “by convention, commas and periods that directly follow quotations go inside the closing quotation marks” (267).

If your quote is forty words or more, set it off in a block text by beginning a new line, indenting one inch, and do not add quotation marks. The letter in quotes stands alone. Short answer the period always goes inside the quotation marks. As long as there is no parenthetical citation, the period does go inside the quotation marks.