1. Do not use a comma to mark the end of a quoted sentence that is followed by an identifying tag if the quoted sentence ends in a question mark or exclamation point:

"Get out!" he screamed.

2. Commas and periods go inside closing quotation marks; semicolons and colons go outside the
closing quotation marks:

Peter's response was "Money is no object," but the lawyer was still unwilling to accept his case.

The senator announced, "I will not seek reelection"; then he left the room.

3. Place a question mark or exclamation point inside the closing quotation marks only if it belongs to
the quotation rather than to the larger sentence:

Lenin's question was "What is to be done?"

Should the U.S. support governments that it considers "moderately repressive"?

4. Use square brackets [ ] to enclose interruptions, corrections, or comments in a quoted passage.

From Basic Prose Style and Mechanics, by Craig Waddell , The Writing Center at Rensselaer, 1987.