Question

Which sentence is correctly written?
a. “Girl number twenty,” said the gentleman, smiling in the calm strength of knowledge.
b. Girl number twenty, said the gentleman, smiling in the calm strength of knowledge.
c. “Girl number twenty” said the gentleman smiling in the calm strength of knowledge.
d. “Girl number twenty,” said the gentleman smiling in the calm strength of knowledge.

Answer 1

The correct answer here would the option A.

The important thing to note here is that comma is put inside the quotation marks and not outside them. That is why the first sentence has the quoted part right. The second comma here goes after "gentlemen" as that presents a break in the information and than later the new information about the gentlemen is provided.