Punctuation Followed By More Punctuation

[Lynn_M]

Are there any easy-to-remember rules? Should a question mark come before a closing inverted comma or the other way round? And while we're at it, is it correct to say 'the Beatles' or 'The Beatles?' Is that the correct title for the band (i.e. two words); does 'The' require a capital letter?

[Jackdaw33]

1 A full stop should come after a closing inverted comma, all other puntuations marks should come before.

2 The Beatles is correct as it is part of their name.

[Old_Geezer]

You can say which you like, no one will hear the lower case letter ;-)
I believe the band name included the "The" so it should be capitalised.

[Tilly2]

If, what is being quoted in the commas is a question, then add the question mark before the inverted commas.

Eg. My friend asked, 'Do you want to know a secret?'.

The Beatles is the name of the group. Capital letters for both words.
The Rolling Stones.
The Yardbirds.
The Hollies.

[jourdain2]

There are lots of easy-to-remember rules, Lynn. All punctuation comes in front of a quote. 'The Beatles' is correct because that is their name.

[Jackdaw33]

Tilly, you do not put the full stop outside if you have a punctuation mark inside.

[Old_Geezer]

If a quote is only the middle part of a sentence then the closing inverted commas would not require a full stop immediately after it surely ? And one should not put the rest of the sentence inside as if it were part of the quote. So although I'm no expert I'm unsure about all other things being before the closing inverted comma.

[Old_Geezer]

My friend asked, 'Do you want to know a secret ?', but I refused to reply.

[Jackdaw33]

'Do you want to know a secret?'. is wrong.
'Do you want to know a secret?' is correct.

[Tilly2]

'Do you not, Jack?'.

[Buenchico]

If what is inside the inverted commas is itself a question then the question mark should also be inside them. e.g:
The Editor looked up from his screen and asked "Which nutter posted that?"

Occasionally though what is inside the inverted commas isn't itself a question but simply something which is being asked about. So the question mark then goes outside. e.g:
Who wrote "Day of the Triffids"?

Since John, Paul, George and Ringo were collectively known as 'The Beatles' (rather than just 'Beatles'), as shown in this image,
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ChnFr2qWkAAXxQE.jpg
the definite article forms part of the group's name and should therefore be given a capital letter.

A similar problem (as to whether 'the' needs a capital) arises with the names of pubs. So some people might write
"We went to the Plough for lunch",
whereas others would use
"We went to The Plough for lunch".
I can't see that it really matters much either way but, as the definite article usually forms part of the pub's name (as displayed outside it)
http://tinyurl.com/zrjhx39
I'd prefer the use of the latter.

[jourdain2]

Yes Jackdaw. A question mark carries its own full stop (?) and needs no other.

[Buenchico]

Sometimes you need question marks both inside AND outside inverted commas!

e.g:
Which album featured the song "Do You Want To Know A Secret?"?

[jourdain2]

^^^ Sorry, Tilly. :(

[Tilly2]

The question mark relates to the quote, not the sentence.

[jourdain2]

^^^Sorry again, Tilly :)

[Tilly2]

This could go on all night. Goodnight, Jourdain.

[jno]

that's right, Tilly, but if you have a question mark or exclamation mark inside a quote, you don't normally see a full stop outside them even though logically there should be one. A comma maybe, to warn us that the sentence isn't over, but otherwise our eyes seem to tell us that it is.

[Lynn_M]

Surely 'something that is being asked about' is a question? 'Who wrote "The Day of the Triffids"' sounds like a direct question to me

Feel free to correct my grammar. jourdain2 is correct when he says 'a question mark carries its own full stop,' so I always try to avoid them in the middle of a sentence

[Buenchico]

Look at my example above again, Lynn, and read ONLY what's inside the inverted commas.

"Which nutter posted that?" is clearly a question and therefore demands the use of the question mark attached to it.

"Day of the Triffids" isn't a question and therefore no question mark is needed inside the inverted commas.

[smoneybags]

A question mark includes a full stop, so you do not need another one, as Jackdaw says.