Beth, Eric, Herb,
   Thanks much. I know within the works cited conventions, the period goes within the quotation marks for an article title (followed by the periodical title.) I just wish the handbooks would address this more directly. (For example: this rule holds even when the quotation marks don't enclose an actual quotation, but designate a word as word or title.)
   I try to finesse it by using italics, but that doesn't easily extend to other people's writing.
   Of course, this is the kind of tedious and arbitrary stuff that everyone associates with grammar.

Craig

Eric Muhr wrote:
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Associated Press Stylebook: "Follow these long-established printers' rules: The period and the comma always go within the quotation marks. The dash, the semicolon, the question mark and the exclamation point go within the quotation marks when they apply to the quoted matter only. They go outside when they apply to the whole sentence."
 
Also: "Commas always go inside quotation marks."
 
MLA Handbook places the comma inside the quotation marks used to set off a title. It does the same with periods: "If a period is required after an underlined title that ends with a quotation mark, place the period before the quotation mark."
 
On quotations with end puncutation: "If the quotation ends with a question mark or an exclamation point, however, the original puncutation is retained, and no comma is required."
 
In addition: "By convention, commas and period that directly follow quotations go inside the closing quotation marks . . . . If a quotation ends with both single and ouble quotation marks, the comma or period precedes both. . . . All other punctuation marks — such as semicolons, colons, question marks, and exclamation points — go outside a closing quotation mark, except when they are part of the quoted material."

On Thu, Oct 29, 2009 at 8:01 AM, STAHLKE, HERBERT F <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
Craig,

My use of quotations seems more like what you're suggesting, but mine has been shaped/contaminated by years of computer programming, where quotes are used to bound literals, rather like their use when you want to narrow a Google search.  I have not seen an clear articulation of this, and I think editors and truly rule-bound teachers will insist on including commas in periods within the quotation marks, even if they aren't a part of the quotation.  But for some reason, if I recall correctly, semicolons and question marks don't.  This is beginning to sound arcane and convoluted enough to make me wonder if rules for this vary with the teacher as much as understanding what passive voice does.

Herb

Herbert F. W. Stahlke, Ph.D.
Emeritus Professor of English
Ball State University
Muncie, IN  47306
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