| End of sentence |
Sentence is a statement |
Sentence is a question |
Sentence is an exclamation |
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| Abbreviation |
Rule: Keep the period for the abbreviation; do not add an additional period.
Example: Please meet us at 10:00 a.m. |
Rule: Keep the period for the abbreviation; end the sentence with a question mark.
Example: Are we supposed to meet at 10:00 a.m.? |
Rule: Keep the period for the abbreviation; end the sentence with an exclamation point.
Example: She told us to be there at 5:00 a.m.! |
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| Name or title of work ending with a question mark |
Rule: The question mark ends the sentence; no additional period.
Example: His first appearance on Broadway was in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? |
Rule: The question mark in the name or title ends the sentence; no additional question mark.
Example: Who plays the lead in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? |
Rule: Place the exclamation point immediately after the question mark.
Example: I can’t stand Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?! |
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| Quotation ending with a question mark |
Rule: The question mark (inside the closing quotation mark) ends the sentence; no period.
Example: She kept asking, “Why me?” |
Rule: The question mark (inside the closing quotation mark) ends the sentence; no additional question mark.
Example: Did you just ask, “Why me?” |
Rule: Place the exclamation point immediately after the closing quotation mark.
Example: Stop asking, “Why me?”! |
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| Name or title of work ending with an exclamation point |
Rule: The exclamation point ends the sentence; no additional period.
Example: He works at Yahoo! |
Rule: Place the question mark immediately after the exclamation point.
Example: Does he still work at Yahoo!? |
Rule: The exclamation point in the name or title ends the sentence; no additional exclamation point.
Example: I can’t believe you’re still using Yahoo! |
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| Quotation ending with an exclamation point |
Rule: The exclamation point (inside the closing quotation mark) ends the sentence; no period.
Example: She ended the letter with a cheerful “Good luck!” |
Rule: Add a question mark after the closing quotation mark.
Example: Who screamed, “The house is on fire!”? |
Rule: The exclamation point (inside the closing quotation mark) ends the sentence; no additional exclamation point.
Example: Her letter of resignation was a single sentence: “I’m out of here!” |
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| Quotation ending with a period (not an abbreviation) or no punctuation |
Rule: The sentence ends with a single period inside the closing quotation mark.
Example: He called Vienna the “most cultured city in the world.” |
Rule: No period inside closing quotation mark; question mark after closing quotation mark.
Example: Who said, “I think, therefore I am”? |
Rule: No period inside closing quotation mark; exclamation point after closing quotation mark.
Example: Even though half the building was on fire, they told us to “keep calm and carry on”! |
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| Quotation ending with a period as part of an abbreviation |
Rule: Keep the period for the abbreviation (inside the closing quotation mark); no additional period.
Example: She said, “The flight leaves at 10:00 a.m.” |
Rule: Keep the period for the abbreviation (inside the closing quotation mark); add a question mark after the closing quotation mark.
Example: Didn’t he tell us to be there “no later than 7:30 a.m.”? |
Rule: Keep the period for the abbreviation (inside the closing quotation mark); add an exclamation point after the closing quotation mark.
Example: This ticket says to arrive “no later than 5:00 a.m.”! |
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| Parenthetical |
Rule: The main sentence takes a period outside the closing parenthesis no matter what punctuation is included inside the parenthetical element.
Example: She worked as an executive in the automotive industry (at Ford) and in the tech sector (at Yahoo!). |
Rule: The main sentence takes a question mark outside the closing parenthesis no matter what punctuation is included inside the parenthetical element.
Example: Can you believe how much money he has made from his Where’s Wally? series of books (published in the US as Where’s Waldo?)? |
Rule: The main sentence takes an exclamation point outside the closing parenthesis no matter what punctuation is included inside the parenthetical element.
Example: He will not accept any papers submitted even one minute past the deadline (5:00 p.m.)! |