The Punctuation Guide.com

Terminal points

The general rule is that a sentence ends with only one terminal punctuation mark. There are three options:

Period

Question mark

Exclamation point

There are enough exceptions to this general rule, however, to warrant the following chart, which shows nearly all of the scenarios you are likely to face.

Most authorities, including The Chicago Manual of Style, have traditionally rejected any situation where a question mark and exclamation point both appear at the end of a sentence, even when such usage was logical. In a break with tradition, the 16th edition of The Chicago Manual of Style, published in 2010, allowed for both punctuation marks to appear. The latest (17th) edition continues to allow such usage, which is reflected in the chart below.

End of sentence Sentence is a statement Sentence is a question Sentence is an exclamation
 
Abbreviation
Rule: Keep the period for the abbreviation; do not add an additional period.

Example: Please meet us at 10:00 a.m.
Rule: Keep the period for the abbreviation; end the sentence with a question mark.

Example: Are we supposed to meet at 10:00 a.m.?
Rule: Keep the period for the abbreviation; end the sentence with an exclamation point.

Example: She told us to be there at 5:00 a.m.!
 
Name or title of work ending with a question mark
Rule: The question mark ends the sentence; no additional period.

Example: His first appearance on Broadway was in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Rule: The question mark in the name or title ends the sentence; no additional question mark.

Example: Who plays the lead in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?
Rule: Place the exclamation point immediately after the question mark.

Example: I can’t stand Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?!
 
Quotation ending with a question mark
Rule: The question mark (inside the closing quotation mark) ends the sentence; no period.

Example: She kept asking, “Why me?”
Rule: The question mark (inside the closing quotation mark) ends the sentence; no additional question mark.

Example: Did you just ask, “Why me?”
Rule: Place the exclamation point immediately after the closing quotation mark.

Example: Stop asking, “Why me?”!
 
Name or title of work ending with an exclamation point
Rule: The exclamation point ends the sentence; no additional period.

Example: He works at Yahoo!
Rule: Place the question mark immediately after the exclamation point.

Example: Does he still work at Yahoo!?
Rule: The exclamation point in the name or title ends the sentence; no additional exclamation point.

Example: I can’t believe you’re still using Yahoo!
 
Quotation ending with an exclamation point
Rule: The exclamation point (inside the closing quotation mark) ends the sentence; no period.

Example: She ended the letter with a cheerful “Good luck!”
Rule: Add a question mark after the closing quotation mark.

Example: Who screamed, “The house is on fire!”?
Rule: The exclamation point (inside the closing quotation mark) ends the sentence; no additional exclamation point.

Example: Her letter of resignation was a single sentence: “I’m out of here!”
 
Quotation ending with a period (not an abbreviation) or no punctuation
Rule: The sentence ends with a single period inside the closing quotation mark.

Example: He called Vienna the “most cultured city in the world.”
Rule: No period inside closing quotation mark; question mark after closing quotation mark.

Example: Who said, “I think, therefore I am”?
Rule: No period inside closing quotation mark; exclamation point after closing quotation mark.

Example: Even though half the building was on fire, they told us to “keep calm and carry on”!
 
Quotation ending with a period as part of an abbreviation
Rule: Keep the period for the abbreviation (inside the closing quotation mark); no additional period.

Example: She said, “The flight leaves at 10:00 a.m.”
Rule: Keep the period for the abbreviation (inside the closing quotation mark); add a question mark after the closing quotation mark.

Example: Didn’t he tell us to be there “no later than 7:30 a.m.”?
Rule: Keep the period for the abbreviation (inside the closing quotation mark); add an exclamation point after the closing quotation mark.

Example: This ticket says to arrive “no later than 5:00 a.m.”!
 
Parenthetical
Rule: The main sentence takes a period outside the closing parenthesis no matter what punctuation is included inside the parenthetical element.

Example: She worked as an executive in the automotive industry (at Ford) and in the tech sector (at Yahoo!).
Rule: The main sentence takes a question mark outside the closing parenthesis no matter what punctuation is included inside the parenthetical element.

Example: Can you believe how much money he has made from his Where’s Wally? series of books (published in the US as Where’s Waldo?)?
Rule: The main sentence takes an exclamation point outside the closing parenthesis no matter what punctuation is included inside the parenthetical element.

Example: He will not accept any papers submitted even one minute past the deadline (5:00 p.m.)!