If there's anything I struggle with in English, it's deciding whether to place a period before or after closing quotation marks. For example:

1. He wrote to me in his email, "I am well."
2. He wrote to me in his email, "I am well".

The challenge here is that I don't want to put the period inside the quotation marks if that's *not* how it looked in the guy's email because I want to have respect for him. What if his full message to me was "I am well and so is my family"?

On the other, placing the period after the quotation marks looks awful to me, and I say that after years of typing it that way and trying to get used to it.

Does anyone have any answer to this perceived dilemma of mine? Thanks to anyone who read this far.

Question

If there's anything I struggle with in English, it's deciding whether to place a period before or after closing quotation marks. For example:

1. He wrote to me in his email, "I am well."
2. He wrote to me in his email, "I am well".

The challenge here is that I don't want to put the period inside the quotation marks if that's *not* how it looked in the guy's email because I want to have respect for him. What if his full message to me was "I am well and so is my family"?

On the other, placing the period after the quotation marks looks awful to me, and I say that after years of typing it that way and trying to get used to it.

Does anyone have any answer to this perceived dilemma of mine? Thanks to anyone who read this far.

Answer

Your concern is understandable, and the rules around punctuation and quotation marks can vary between different style guides. In American English, the convention is to place the period inside the closing quotation mark, even if it's not part of the quoted material. However, if you wish to maintain the exact wording of the email and show respect for the original message, you can consider using brackets to make it clear that you're adding the period for grammatical correctness:

"He wrote to me in his email, 'I am well'."

This way, you're indicating that the period is not part of the original quote. It's important to communicate clearly, and using brackets can help achieve that while still respecting the original message. Ultimately, consistency and clarity are key in writing, so choose the style that works best for your context and preferences.

Answer

Full stop after the quotation marks. :)

Answer

The perils of being too conscientious!

Personally I make it a rule to ignore "received usage" if it's clearly wrong.  For your purposes I'd agree with you that that means leaving it until after the quotes.

And, for what it's worth, I think The Rules around punctuation at the end of a quote only really applies to longer quotes, especially reported speech:

She swayed on the spot and gasped, "Lawks a mussy, I've come over all irregular, so I have."
The first thing she said was "lawks a mussy".

if that makes any sense......

Answer

Oh, I meant to type "On the other hand . . ."

Answer

Yes, I understand, and I like your bringing attention to how the length of the quoted material can matter, particularly of speeches. I hadn't thought much about that, but it makes sense.