Dr. Awkward writes:
ok, i've been struggling with this for years - in high school english i learned that it's verboten to punctuate after a set of quotation marks, but following this rule seems rather jarring - looking for an elegant solution...
I'll share my secrets. When quotation marks and punctuation become awkward, the most elegant solution is to paraphrase and avoid directly quoting. Contrariwise, quote generously enough to offset and thereby avoid quotation marks altogether. For example:
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, dignissim libero. Felis metus:
Magna mi id facilisi, est nostra, placerat amet sit, proin mollis commodo tincidunt lorem est, neque wisi vitae sed blandit. Sed tincidunt rem hendrerit cubilia fusce, pellentesque tincidunt tellus in. Ut ac metus curabitur eu. Nunc sollicitudin blandit sit consectetuer a non.
Quam posuere non sociosqu, id nec blandit sed nulla aliquam ut, diam id dolor ipsa habitasse. Et id hendrerit a ut, hendrerit erat ornare quisque donec odio platea.
