Reply #10: Tofunut. Maybe you can help. I've been wrestling with this for about six years. [View All]

[Radio_Lady]

As a movie reviewer, I have to use the titles of movies all the time.

What position does the all the punctuation (quotes, commas, and periods) take when the movie title is used in a sentence? I use regular quotes around the movie titles, such as "Apocalypto" -- I think that's standard. Then there are the position of commas and periods relative to the clauses and end of sentences.

I never know where to put them!

To illustrate:

I have see "Apocalypto", and I must say, I don't like it. In "Apocalypto," there are extreme cases of brutality, far beyond what you might have seen in "The Passion of the Christ." Or "Braveheart".

What rules govern the use of punctuation in those positions? Should they be INSIDE or OUTSIDE of the quotation marks? If so, under what conditions? My aunt, who is an English instructor, tried to explain this to me, but it went in one ear and out the other.

If this isn't clear, just tell me. Thanks for your help -- in advance!

Radio_Lady in Oregon