Michelle's corner

There is a question of whether punctuation should come inside a quote like this, ?" or outside like this "? so I decided to have a look at a variety of books on my shelves.

Now, there is a possibility that these books, although some of them are written by American authors in America (as opposed to one of them who is an American author who is now in the U.K.; a matter of a few miles away from me as it happens, and treated at my local hospital.) there is always the possibility that these were edited for the UK market, so this very well might not be a complete answer.

As for Canada or anywhere else; I'm not sure. I'd have to double check my authors because this is a quick experiment that I decided to do off the cuff this evening.

Exhibit 1, m'Lud, is an old book by Thomas Hughes. Ironically, it is the only one of the examples here which is mixed. It actually contains both. Doh!

Number 2 is a modern book by British author, Douglas Adams. It is consistently in the first camp.

Third is by an American author living in America. Again, consistent with the first method.

Here we have an American author living in the UK for a number of years, and where this book was written and published. Again, the first technique.

Lastly we have an older American author again published in America. And again, consistent with the first technique.

On the face of it, punctuation before the closing quote appears to be the solid method at least for the books I have here. I know I've bought some books from the US and had them imported so I'll have to track them down and check them as well.