Question Mark Placement with Quotation Marks
The Question Mark
Rulebase Summary
The placement of a question mark relative to quotation marks depends on what is actually the question. If the quoted material is the question, place the question mark inside the closing quotation mark. If the overall sentence is the question but the quoted material is not, place the question mark outside the closing quotation mark. If a quoted question appears within a larger question, place the question mark inside the closing quotation mark (one question mark serves both).
Examples
A. He asked me "Where is the safe"?
A. He asked me "Where is the safe?"
Quoted material is the question — ? goes inside quotes.
Q. Did she actually say "I quit?"
Q. Did she actually say "I quit"?
Outer sentence is the question, quote is not — ? outside.
Transcript Notes
The key principle: if the quoted material is asking a question, the question mark goes inside the quotation mark, period. This interrog inside the quotes supersedes any other punctuation that might have been needed.
It does not matter that there may be a question in another part of the sentence — the interrog inside the quotation mark is the only punctuation needed. Look first at the material inside the quotes, then at the material outside.
Exclamation marks follow the same rules as question marks for placement relative to quotation marks.
Style Guide References (5)
Morson's
BGGP
BGGP
BGGP
Morson's