Q. Look at the following example from CMOS 6.124:
What did she mean when she said, “The foot now wears a different shoe”?
Shouldn’t the question mark be INSIDE the quotation? If we are incorrect, please advise us.
A. Actually, CMOS is correct. If we had put the question mark inside the quotation marks, it would mean that the person was asking a question about the shoe. But the part about the shoe is a statement, not a question. The question is “What did she mean?” so the question mark must go outside the quotation marks.
Thank you for writing—please do write again if you suspect you have found a typo. We’re keeping a list of corrections for future printings.