Get in the swing!

This month’s workout centers on paragraphs 6.9–11 of CMOS 17, “Punctuation in Relation to Closing Quotation Marks.” Advanced editors might tackle the questions cold; learners can study the relevant paragraphs of the Manual before answering the questions.

(Subscribers to The Chicago Manual of Style Online may click through to the linked sections of the Manual. We also offer a 30-day free trial of CMOS Online.)

Note: These questions are designed to test knowledge of The Chicago Manual of Style. Other style guides may have different rules and guidelines. American punctuation rules have significant differences from those practiced in the UK, Canada, and other English-speaking countries. 

[Editor’s update: This quiz has now been updated to refer and link to the 17th edition.]

Chicago Style Workout 15: Punctuation and Closing Quotation Marks

1. A period precedes closing quotation marks, whether double or single.

a.True

b.False

2. Colons and semicolons—unlike periods and commas—follow closing quotation marks.

a.True

b.False

3. A question mark always follows a closing quotation mark.

a.True

b.False

4. A comma goes after the quotation mark.

a.True

b.False

5. In an alternative system, sometimes called British style, only those punctuation points that appeared in the original material should be included within the quotation marks.

a.True

b.False

6. When single quotation marks nested within double quotation marks appear next to each other, the period precedes the single quotation mark {“ ‘like this.’ ”}. [Extra space appears here between quotation marks for readability.—Ed.]

a.True

b.False

7. {Growing up, we always preferred to “bear those ills we have.”}

a.Chicago style

b.Not Chicago style

8. {Which of Shakespeare’s characters said, “All the world’s a stage?”}

a.Chicago style

b.Not Chicago style

9. {“What’s the rush”? she wondered.}

a.Chicago style

b.Not Chicago style

10. {Take, for example, the first line of “To a Skylark:” “Hail to thee, blithe spirit!”}

a.Chicago style

b.Not Chicago style

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Photo: Artist unknown, Calvert Litho Co., Detroit, MI, via Wikimedia Commons.

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