Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2017 October 8

= October 8 =

Use of " and dots
There is something I don't understand in English. When we use " does the final " have to be used after the sentence's end or before? For example: Harry Potter said he "did not like his family." or Harry Potter said he "did not like his family". Cheers.Tintor2 (talk) 01:08, 8 October 2017 (UTC)
 * It varies, depending on where you are. See Full stop. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 01:21, 8 October 2017 (UTC)


 * Thanks for the quick response.Tintor2 (talk) 01:22, 8 October 2017 (UTC)


 * In the example that you gave, neither, because that is not a quote, unless he actually said "[I]/[He] did not like his family." Otherwise, I think you're paraphrasing. I think that you should make sure that you understand what a quote is, and what it isn't. Plasmic Physics (talk) 06:05, 8 October 2017 (UTC)
 * Just to clarify what Plasmic Physics is talking about above; a quote or "direct speech" would be Harry Potter said "I do not like my family". Your example is a reported or "indirect speech". See Direct and indirect speech. Apologies if I'm stating the obvious. Alansplodge (talk) 14:49, 8 October 2017 (UTC)