Questions About Quotations?

Do you have questions about quotation marks? Or do you think they're a piece of cake?

Here are the simple rules:
1. Commas and periods go inside the quotation marks. (U.S. rules; U.K. rules differ)
2. Colons and semicolons go outside the quotation marks.
3. Question marks and exclamation marks can go on the inside or the outside, depending upon the meaning of the sentence.


Examples:

1.      "Grammar rules are extensive," she said, "but they seem to be necessary."

2.      "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening": A beautiful poem of wintertime.
         I love "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening"; it is my favorite poem by Robert Frost.

3.      I love "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening"!
         She said, "I love stopping in the woods on a snowy evening!"
         Have you read "Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening"?
         "Have you ever stopped in the woods on a snowy evening?" she asked.


Did that answer all of your questions about quotation marks? :)

EXCLAMATION POINT ! ! ! ! !

IS THERE EVER AN APPROPRIATE MOMENT IN YOUR WRITING TO USE EXCLAMATION POINTS?!!!!!

Not if it's written well.

If you feel the need to use an exclamation point in your writing, revisit your word choices.

"If you pick the right words and shorten your sentence structure at the desired moment, your emphasis will come across without exclamation points" (WRITING YA FICTION FOR DUMMIES, p. 172).

Challenge yourself to not use the exclamation point. Rethink and revise instead.

Do you agree or disagree?