Can You Put Two Quotes Next To Each Other

MJWare

Kidlit gang, Junior member.

I have a sentence with a character quoting himself. I know to use singe quotes, but I'm not sure where the end quote fits in with the question mark and the double quote:

"Now I had a feeling in my gut too. I said, 'Come on, let's go. What if we run into someone out here '?"

I know it's a little awkward, but it's just once sentence and I figure if I get the punctuation right it will work.

Anyone know how I should end this thing?

AshRose

Unofficial Expert on Angels

I would put the ' outside of the ? so it would be ?'" I believe this is perfectly acceptable, plus he's quoting himself asking the question so you want the question mark to be a part of that.

JSDR

wants moar baddassery.

Single quotation mark to enclose the quoted question.
"I said, 'Come on, let's go. What if we run into someone out here ?'"

MJWare

Kidlit gang, Junior member.

Seems to make since. I was just hesitant to put two quotes next to each other like that Thanks!

CaroGirl

Upon final submission of my electronic ms for the editor, the publisher wanted it reformatted to remove all single quotes and use double quotes for everything. Just another indication to do it consistently but be prepared to accommodate publisher and agent needs.

To answer your question, the question mark would be kept with the question. Therefore, it would be question mark, single quote, double quote. If the main context is the question, the question mark would be outside the single quote: single quote, question mark, double quote. Now, there can also be certain circumstances where you might have a question wherein the quote and the quote within the quote are part of the question with neither one actually being a question. In such an, albeit obscure, situation, the question mark would be outside both sets of quotes: single quote, double quote, question mark. (...'"?"

However, in the presented context, I am not sure why you even have a quote within a quote.

Not your question but something I did not know. I had several internal quotes and my editor put a space in between the single quote and the double quote.

The spacing is something that either the editor or the typesetter will take care of. It's fine to have single and double quotes beside each other--sometimes it's necessary.