Speech marks and commas homework, argh!

[amidaiwish]

Homework help!!
Where would you put the comma in this sentence, in or out of the speech marks?

"I am going to the park", said Peter
Or
"I am going to the park," said Peter

Thanks!

[valiumredhead]

Comma inside speech marks.

[eddiemairswife]

And a full-stop after Peter.

[valiumredhead]

I'm 43 and remember this being drummed into us!

[hopingforbest]

Wikipedia has an unusually helpful entry re the difference between US/UK and Fiction/Non-fiction usage: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quotation_mark

This is the sort of question that drove me nuts as a child - a question that has more than one possible answer but no space below to write your either/or explanation..

[bamboostalks]

Am shocked at how wrong so many people are on this thread and how sure they are in their incorrect ness! It's not like there an option or a choice. There is only one correct answer and that of course is 2, no exceptions.

[amidaiwish]

i am 40 and we were definitely the "skipped grammar" generation
My DDs are taught it more rigidly than we ever were.
I still have to correct dh's grammar, esp apostrophes, before he can submit any documents at work!

[amidaiwish]

it doesn't help that the grammar monkey website is wrong, it's not as black and white as it seems. Maybe UK has adopted the US way of writing.

[Wallison]

Just have a look at any book you have in the house - that will confirm that the 2nd example is correct. Punctuation is always before speech-marks.

[amidaiwish]

summary from grammar monster regarding use of punctuation and speech marks:

The rules governing whether to place punctuation inside or outside speech marks are complicated. The quick summary is:
Semicolons and colons – outside
Exclamation marks and question marks – according to logic
Commas and periods/full stops – inside in the US, outside in the UK.

[CecilyP]

I stand corrected; inside the speech marks is the preferred style in English fiction publishing.

[valiumredhead]

Grammar monkey is a load of bollox

Ds is a grammar whizz, he says INSIDE

[mrz]

if the punctuation belongs to the quote inside the quotation marks, and a closing full stop/question mark/exclamation mark if the quote is a complete sentence

any punctuation which does not belong to the quote outside the quotation marks except closing punctuation.

[englishteacher78]

Nope, never been the UK way to put the comma outside.

[valiumredhead]

m.grammarbook.com/punctuation-rules/quotation-marks.aspx

Interesting...

[valiumredhead]

Sorry,I think that's an American site

[valiumredhead]

Quotes within quotes looks a bit messy!

[clam]

The Americans also do not distinguish between practice and practise. And I would say in 90% of cases I see, they're used incorrectly over here.

[ModeratelyObvious]

Comma inside the quote marks.

[teacherwith2kids]

I think the generational thing is true.

I (40mumble) have had to crack the grammar books in order to be able to teach my class correctly, as a much more formal knowledge of grammar is now expected than was the norm in my 1970s schooling.

[englishteacher78]

Rediscover Grammar - David Crystal
An excellent resource.

[mrz]

www.amazon.co.uk/Gwynnes-Grammar-Ultimate-Introduction-Incorporating/dp/0091951453/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1380463344&sr=1-1&keywords=gwynnes%20grammar&tag=mumsnet&ascsubtag=mnforum-21

[Mumzy]

If you or your Dcs ever did 11+ it is a basic question

[TheRoundTable]

It's the second one.

Question marks used to confuse me like that though...

"May I have some sweets?", asked Peter.

Is this right or wrong?

[clam]

Wrong. You don't need the comma after the question mark.