There are three different ways to end a sentence. There is a correct use for each, despite the fact that they are frequently confused.

Full stops

The full stop is used at the end of a sentence that is not a question or an exclamation.

Question marks

The question mark is used at the end of a question. This may seem obvious, but it can be misused. Make sure that the sentence is a question, and always do use a question mark when asking a question – even if it’s a heading or a title.

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If you’re using quotation marks – either for reported speech or for quoting phrases or titles – it’s important to know where to put the punctuation.

Where you put a full stop when using quotation marks depends on what you are quoting.

Quoting full sentences

If you are writing a sentence which is a full sentence, and wholly a quote, the ending punctuation goes inside the quotation marks.

Example

“I have nothing to declare except my genius.”  This is a famous quote from Oscar Wilde

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