Dear Ms. M:

You wrote:

Isn’t this sentence incorrect??

Example: He got in trouble with the gang for “dropping dimes.” [Ed.–This is quotation from Grammar Slammer]

The ending quote mark should PRECEDE the period because the phrase in quotes is only a part of sentence, right?? So it should read:

Example: He got in trouble with the gang for “dropping dimes”.

This is what I was always taught and I was an English major all through school with a 3.8 average!

Please advise …
There is not universal agreement on the relative position of end marks and quotation marks. What you described is the standard for question marks and exclamation points because they contribute to the meaning of the piece they are quoting. That is not the case with periods and commas, so we follow most American authorities which simply say that commas and periods always precede the quotation marks.

Some authorities do apply that same standard to periods and commas, however. No doubt, that is the way you learned. The only thing is to be aware when someone is using a different standard. Once, for example, I was doing some proofreading for a firm that wanted it done the way you suggested; I did it their way because that was the way they wanted.

Actually, in the U.K., the standard has become the reverse. Most authorities there always place the periods and commas after the quotation marks. One of the adjustable settings on our grammar checker is whether to alert the writer the “American” or “British” way with respect to periods or commas and quotation marks.

Our guidelines follow the standard in most American textbooks and style sheets. See www.englishplus.com/grammar/00000064.htm .

I hope this helps, and thank you for your question.