Editing Quotation marks in English (section)

=== American style<span class="anchor" id="American practice"></span>===
In the United States, the prevailing style is called ''American style'',<ref name="APA" /> whereby commas and periods are almost always placed inside closing quotation marks.<ref>{{cite book |title=The Associated Press Stylebook |chapter=Punctuation |page=337}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |title=The Chicago Manual of Style Online: Q&A |url=https://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/qanda/data/faq/topics/Punctuation/faq0021.html |access-date=21 December 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Strunk |first1=William Jr. |last2=White |first2=E. B. |title=The Elements of Style |publisher=[[Pearson Education]] |edition=4th |page=[https://archive.org/details/elementsofs00stru/page/36 36] |date=2000 |isbn=9780205313426 |url=https://archive.org/details/elementsofs00stru/page/36 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |first1=J. A. (Sandy) |last1=McFarlane |first2=Warren |last2=Clements |title=The Globe and Mail Style Book |edition=9th |date=2003 |isbn=978-0771056857 |page=237|publisher=McClelland & Stewart }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last1=Brinck |first1=Tom |last2=Gergle |first2=Darren |last3=Wood |first3=Scott W. |title=Usability for the Web |publisher=[[Morgan Kaufmann]] |date=2002 |page=277 |isbn=978-1-55860-658-6 |doi=10.1016/B978-1-55860-658-6.X5000-7}}</ref> This is done because it results in closer spacing and what is judged to be a cleaner appearance.<ref>Frederick Hamilton (1920: 31) ''A Primer of Information about the Marks of Punctuation and Their Use Both Grammatically and Typographically.''</ref> The American style is used by most newspapers, publishing houses, and style guides in the United States and, to a lesser extent, Canada as well.

When dealing with words-as-words, short-form works, and sentence fragments, standard American style places periods and commas inside the quotation marks:
{{block indent|1=<poem>
"Carefree," in general, means "free from care or anxiety."
The title of the song was "Gloria," which many already knew.
She said she felt "free from care and anxiety."
</poem>}}

This style also places periods and commas inside the quotation marks when dealing with direct speech, regardless of whether the work is fiction or non-fiction:
{{block indent|1=<poem>
"Today," said Cinderella, "I feel free from care and anxiety." (fiction)
"Today," said the Prime Minister, "I feel free from care and anxiety." (non-fiction)
</poem>}}

Nevertheless, many American style guides explicitly permit periods and commas outside the quotation marks when the presence of the punctuation mark inside the quotation marks leads to ambiguity, such as when describing keyboard input, as in the following example:
{{block indent|In the programming language [[Pascal (programming language)|Pascal]], the statement "<code>end.</code>", including the period, signifies the end of a program.}}

The American style is recommended by the Modern Language Association's ''[[MLA Style Manual]]'', the American Psychological Association's ''[[APA style|APA Publication Manual]]'', the University of Chicago's ''[[The Chicago Manual of Style]]'', the American Institute of Physics's ''AIP Style Manual'', the American Medical Association's ''AMA Manual of Style'', the American Political Science Association's ''APSA Style Manual'', the [[Associated Press]]' ''The AP Guide to Punctuation'', and the [[Public Works and Government Services Canada|Canadian Public Works']] ''The Canadian Style''.<ref>Other style guides and reference volumes include the following: ''U.S. Government Printing Office Style Manual'' (2008, p. 217), US Department of Education's ''IES Style Guide'' (2005, p. 43), ''The Canadian Style: A Guide to Writing and Editing'' (1997, p. 148), ''International Committee of Medical Journal Editors'', ''International Reading Association Style Guide'', ''American Dialect Society'', Association of Legal Writing Directors' ''ALWD Citation Manual'', ''The McGraw-Hill Desk Reference'' by K. D. Sullivan (2006, p. 52), ''Webster's New World Punctuation'' by Geraldine Woods (2005, p. 68), ''The New Oxford Guide to Writing'' by Thomas S. Kane (1994, pp. 278, 305, 306), ''Merriam-Webster's Manual for Writers and Editors'' by Merriam-Webster (1998, p. 27), ''Simon & Schuster Handbook for Writers'' by Lynn Troyka, et al. (1993, p. 517), ''Science and Technical Writing'' by Philip Rubens (2001, p. 208), ''Health Professionals Style Manual'' by Shirley Fondiller and Barbara Nerone (2006, p. 72), ''The Gregg Reference Manual'' by William A. Sabin (2000, p. 247), ''The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation'' by [[Jane Straus]](2007, p. 61), ''The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage'' by Allan M. Siegal, ''The New York Times Guide to Essential Knowledge'' (2004, p. 788), ''The Copyeditor's Handbook'' by Amy Einsohn (2000, p. 111), ''The Grammar Bible'' by Michael Strumpf, Auriel Douglas (2004, p. 446), ''Elements of Style'' by William Strunk and Elwyn B. White (1979, p. 36), ''Little English Handbook'' by Edward P. J. Corbett (1997, p. 135), ''Commonsense Grammar and Style'' by Phillip S. Sparks (2004, p. 18), ''Handbook of Technical Writing'' by Gerald Alred et al. (2006, pp. 83, 373), ''MIT Guide To Science and Engineering Communication'' by J. Paradis and M. L. Zimmerman (2002, p. 314), ''Guide to Writing Empirical Papers'' by G. David Garson (2002, p. 178), ''Modern English'' by A. L. Lazarus, A. MacLeish, and H. W. Smith (1971, p. 71), ''The Scott Foresman Handbook for Writers'' (8th ed.) by John Ruszkiewicz et al., ''Comma Sense'' by Richard Lederer, John Shore (2007, p. 138), ''Write right!'' by Jan Venolia (2001, p. 82), ''Scholastic Journalism'' by Earl English and Clarence Hach (1962. p. 75), ''Grammar in Plain English'' by Harriet Diamond and Phyllis Dutwin (2005, p. 199), ''Crimes Against the English Language'' by Jill Meryl Levy (2005, p. 21), ''The Analytical Writer'' by Adrienne Robins (1997, p. 524), ''Writing with a Purpose'' by James McNab McCrimmon (1973, p. 415), ''Writing and Reporting News'' by Carole Rich (2000, p. 60), ''The Lawyer's Guide to Writing Well'' by Tom Goldstein (2003, p. 163), ''Woodroof's Quotations, Commas And Other Things English'' by D. K. Woodroof (2005, pp. 10–12), ''Journalism Language and Expression'' by Sundara Rajan (2005, p. 76), ''The Business Writer's Handbook'' by Gerald Alred et al. (2006, p. 451), ''The Business Style Handbook'' by Helen Cunningham (2002, p. 213), ''Essentials of English'' by Vincent Hopper (2000, p. 127).</ref> This style is also used in some British news and fiction.<ref>{{cite web |last1=March |first1=David |title='The British style'? 'The American way?' They are not so different {{!}} Mind your language |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2011/may/19/mind-your-language-punctuation-quotations |website=the Guardian |access-date=19 November 2021 |language=en |date=19 May 2011}}</ref><ref name="Butcher" />