I'm studying for a test and don't know which one of the two following bits of dialogue is correct, and I haven't been able to find the answer online since I don't know what it is called.
"Hello," John says, "it's a beautiful day!"
"Hello", John says, "it's a beautiful day!"
Thanks!
Both are correct. Generally the first is done in American English while the latter is done in British English. Note that the difference is where punctuation is placed with respect to the closing quotation mark. British will place it after closing quotes, while Americans place it before.
There is no correct way to do it, but it should be consistent. Sentence 2 is incorrect because the Exclamation point is within the closing quote.
In British English the comma before "John says" goes inside the quotation marks if there is punctuation in the quoted speech and outside if there isn't:
Bob likes cheese. → ‘Bob’, I said, ‘likes cheese.’
Bob, do you like cheese? → ‘Bob,’ I asked, ‘do you like cheese?’
(Source: University of Oxford Style Guide, p. 16)
In Amercian English the comma always goes inside the quotation:
Bob likes cheese. → “Bob,” I said, “likes cheese.”
(Source: Modern Language Association of America Style Center)
As the MLA explains, in British English the convention is logical, in American English the convention is typographical.
