Dear 1L, The comma goes INSIDE the quotes, OK?

Here’s how to remember: “𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐭𝐥𝐞 𝐤𝐢𝐝𝐬 𝐦𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲 𝐈𝐍𝐒𝐈𝐃𝐄 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐟𝐞𝐧𝐜𝐞.”

🩳 Commas and periods are little kids. 
They sit on or BELOW the line.
“Little kids” are short. 
They’re too short for cars to see. 
They must play INSIDE of the fence.
They must do that for their safety.

👖 But semi-colons and question marks? 
Exclamation points, too?
They’re all big kids. 
They sit on or ABOVE the line.
They’re tall enough for cars to see.
They can play OUTSIDE the fence.
They don’t need the fence for safety.

***
Two Important Notes:

1️⃣ The comma or period goes inside the quotes EVEN IF it didn’t appear in the original that you’re quoting. 

🔷 𝔼𝕩𝕒𝕞𝕡𝕝𝕖 𝟙:

Original: “The complaint lacked sufficient facts to survive summary dismissal, but we granted leave to amend.”

You: The court dismissed the complaint because it “lacked sufficient facts,” but the plaintiff was granted leave to amend. ✅

👉 The comma after “facts” goes inside the quotes, even though no comma appeared there in the original.

🔷 𝔼𝕩𝕒𝕞𝕡𝕝𝕖 𝟚:

Original: “We vacate and remand for further proceedings consistent with this opinion.”

You: The court “remand[ed] for further proceedings.” ✅

👉 The period after “proceedings” goes inside the quotes, even though no period appeared there in the original.

2️⃣ Ending question marks, exclamation points, and semi-colons go outside the quotes if they did not appear in the original. But if they did appear in the original, we put them inside the quotes.

To illustrate:

◾️ Did she ask, “What time is it?”
◾️ Did she assert, “I’ll leave at 9:00”?

***
Please ask me any questions you might have. These punctuation/quotation rules trip up lots of folks, and they are DIFFERENT outside the US.

💌 Amanda

#Dear1L
#DearLegalWriter