When it comes to punctuation marks, they are placed differently in quotations in US English and UK English.

In US English, commas and periods at the end of a quote are placed within the quotation marks:

”My boyfriend gave me this beautiful necklace,” Susan said.
The reporter described the situation as ”chaotic.”

In UK English, all punctuation marks are placed outside the quotation marks (except when they are part of the quotation):

‘My boyfriend gave me this beautiful necklace’, Susan said.
The reporter described the situation as ‘chaotic’.

In both UK and US English, a question mark or an exclamation mark is placed inside the quotation when it is part of the quotation:

Looking at her calendar, she asked, ”How soon can you have it ready?”

In the following example, the question mark is not part of the quotation but of the whole sentence, which is a question:

How many of the students thought the lecture was ”very interesting”?

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QUOTATION

In UK English, single quotation marks are commonly used (even if the US English system is also accepted), while US English prefers double quotation marks.

UK English: ’Welcome to London’, he said.

US English: A man appeared in the doorway asking, ”Is there a restroom somewhere here?”

When a quote appears inside another quote, the opposite style of quotation marks is used:

UK English: The woman looked at the policeman and said, ’All I heard was ”I can’t find my keyes”’.

US English: The woman looked at the officer and said, ”All I heard was ’I can’t find my keyes.’”

Read about punctuation marks and quotations here.

CONTRACTION

In a contraction, an apostrophe represents one or more letters that have been omitted.

I’ve  I have
I’d  I had or I would
He’s  He is
They’re They are
She can’t She cannot
You mustn’t You must not
Singin’ in the rain Singing in the rain
O’Leary  [descendant] of Leary
Rock’n’roll  Rock and roll

An apostrophe can represent thousand:

15’ = 15 000

An apostrophe can replace the first two numbers in a year:

This was popular in the ’80s = in the 1980s

POSSESSIVE

An apostrophe is used with an s after names or nouns to show ownership or close connection.

This is the boy’s room
Let me introduce my wife’s best friend

In the plural, there is no s after the apostrophe:

This is the boys’ room

Especially in spoken language, the plural is expressed using of: This is the room of the boys.

PLURAL OF LETTERS

An apostrophe is used to mark the plural of single letters:

It’s hard to distinguish between your g’s and q’s.

Mind your p’s and q’s (be careful about what you say or do).

 Don’t confuse an apostrophe with an accent! Read more here.

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