mvscal wrote:None of your examples are applicable. It was not a direct quotation.
OK, we'll try again, for those who were incapable of graduating high school. I'm here to help, mv...
Which part of "In American English, periods and commas ALWAYS go inside quotation marks" are you struggling with?
Is it the "in"? (You'll note that the word/phrase that I'm quoting wasn't a direct question, but rather was used within a separate question, and therefore the question mark was placed outside of the quotation marks. There are rules regarding the placement of question marks within quotes, whereas with commas and periods, there is only one rule -- they go inside the quotes.)
Is it the "American English" that threw you off? American English has different rules of puntuation than "British English." (You'll note that I placed "British English" inside quotation marks, because "British English" is not an "official" name, and is noted as such by the use of the quotation marks.) If you were attempting to use "British English," you failed miserably at that, since "British English" uses single quotation marks, rather than the double quotation marks used in American English.
Is it "ALWAYS" that's throwing you off? If so, http://www.dictionary.com can probably help you with that.
Remeber mv, I'm here to help, and I'm really hoping I can succeed where your high school teachers failed.
Work with me here.