Which is the correct sentence?

[tanelaine]

Which sentence is correct: the one with one period of the other with two?

1. The sentence is "We must study hard to attain good results.".

2. The sentence is "We must study hard to attain good results."

Thanks.

[scotman]

neither!

[Postdog]

No expert but I reckon neither. "We must study hard to attain good results". is how I'd put it, but as said, no expert.

[plautus]

The full stop goes outside the speech marks - others, such as question marks or exclamation marks go inside.

[Postdog]

oh, apparently I was right..... . All those years at Lucton Boys wasn't a wast after all.

[jno]

I'm not clear if the words "The sentence is" are part of the sentences you're suggesting, or just an introduction; but you only use one period, even if there's a quote at the end of the sentence that should in theory have its own; so 2 is fine.

[Buenchico]

Period? I'm guessing that you're American because we Brits call them 'full stops';-)

You're first example is definitely wrong. You only need one full stop(/period).

I usually use a single full stop OUTSIDE the quotation marks (since that completes the quotation and then ends the sentence), but I fully accept that the text book way of doing it is as per your second example.

Chris

[jno]

A couple of sentences pasted from Oliver Twist:

"But, my dear," said Sowerberry, "I want to ask your advice."

"No, no, don't ask mine," replied Mrs. Sowerberry, in an affecting manner: "ask somebody else's."

Periods inside the speech marks.

[Buenchico]

Perhaps I shouldn't be commenting on such matters, as I've just seen that (for the second time tonight) I've introduced a superfluous apostrophe into an answer. I really do know the difference between "your" and "you're", honestly!

[horseshoes]

I was always taught that a full stop ALWAYS goes AFTER the speech marks.

[Buenchico]

So was I, Horseshoes!

As I wrote above, it makes sense to end the quotation (which is within the sentence) and then to end the sentence itself. However the convention used within the print media (and, perhaps more importantly, by the grammar-checking functions of word processing programs) is that the full stop goes inside the quotation marks.

[DaisyNonna]

The sentence is, "We must study hard to attain good results."

[Buenchico]

It's interesting that Daisy has preceded the quotation with a comma. I was taught to do that but modern practice seems to be to omit it.

[DaisyNonna]

So I am just old!

[Buenchico]

I've just noticed that Jno has chosen to use Dickens as being representative of 'proper' English. Surely someone who used the title "Our Mutual Friend" can hardly be regarded as an expert, can they?

[Buenchico]

Not 'just' old, Daisy!

Old, but well-educated ;-)
(Ooh, an Oxford comma!)

[jno]

Dickens (and I) must have gone to a different school from Chris and horseshoes.

Here's the first book I've taken from my shelf: The Alteration by Kingsley Amis (a fiend for correct English; he wrote a book about it):

Pastor Williams said in his gentle but resonant voice, 'The original was lost, as is explained by the temporary replacement you have, which was produced by our embassy here in London, and is valid.'

I'd put the full stop after the speech marks IF the words inside the speech marks did not amount to a full sentence -

He said the riots were 'a disgrace'.

But if they're a full sentence:

He said: 'The riots are a disgrace.'

[DaisyNonna]

Is an Oxford brogue made from Irish leather?

[dzug2]

But is that Dickens quote from a first edition, or just how some modern typesetter has chosen to do it?

[Quizmonster]

We have to remember that the Americans do this sort of thing differently from us. British usage is that the full stop, question mark or exclamation mark comes INSIDE the quotation marks only if it BELONGS to the quotation; otherwise, it goes OUTSIDE them to indicate the end of the sentence as a whole.
The Yanks are happy with the following structure. Imagine a speaker asking a question about an incident...
When did President Kennedy say, "Ich bin ein Berliner?"
Note that his words were NOT a question, but they put the question mark with the words. We, on the other hand, would write...
When did President Kennedy say, "Ich bin ein Berliner"?
The mark outside recognises the fact that it is the whole sentence which is a question, not the quote.
Under no circumstances are there two full stops - or other combination - as in Sentence 1 above. Sentence 2 is OK, but I too would put a comma after 'is', as I have done after 'say' in my examples above.

[RATTER15]

jno is American?