Punctuation!

[deliciously]

I've got a biting question about punctuation. Which of these is correct:

What was I supposed to say? "I'm sorry"?

or

What was I supposed to say? "I'm sorry?"

I figured it was the former, because the dialogue itself isn't a question. However, when someone is speaking you are supposed to keep the punctuation inside the quotation marks.

Thanks!  

[velvetsophisticate]

i do believe it is the former,
although i've used the latter
and no one told me otherwise.

 

[deliciously]

Fabulous! Thank you (:  

[Secret Kirari]

My teacher just went over something like this! Haha. I may still be wrong, because this is a different context than what she was actually going over, but from my understanding... here is what I would assume:

By the laws of English language (or, at least, the American version thereof), the puncutation is supposed to be outside of the question mark, making the latter the 'correct' decision. It probably will seem weird, but that's how my teacher insists it is done. If you ask me (which you sort of are), I'd say to always keep the quotation marks outside of other punctuation when in doubt. Even if I'm wrong and the former is correct, people will at least understand what you're saying.

...If I'm outvoted here, though, ignore everything I said because I am still in high school and admit I very easily could be wrong. I just think I'm right.

But people should get what you're saying no matter how you say it, and if you ever publish a book where this comes up, there should be an editor who will know the correct answer and will make it right for you, hopefully explaining why it is that way when doing so. Maybe. But I am delusional.  

[FoxyNightPrincess]

i don't know for sure but i would say use the latter one. the former looks weird to me. and i've never read a book or seen anything where they put the punctuation outside of the quotation marks. wait maybe i have. but in that instance i would use the latter.  

[Scythe de Zaran]

Unfortunately, I agree with Secret. The punctuation should be outside the quotes unless you intended it to be I'm sorry? as the whole statement.  

[deliciously]

Alright! Thanks for all the input, guys.
I will most definitely consult someone official-ish about this later, but for now I'll go with the latter. :'P  

[FoxyNightPrincess]

now that i really think about it maybe the former is correct. but shouldn't the person saying "I'm sorry" also have a punctuation within the quotations? i'm not a professional here by any means but something is just off with the former sentence.  

[vendetta_lexicon]

I believe that is should be:

What was I supposed to say? "I'm sorry,"?

 

[Giyari]

I looked it up there, and I seen both used in books, even in the SAME book... So it might be a situational thing ninja or like as scythe said, wherther or not the I'm sorry was meant to be a full statement  

[All Purpose Muling Device]

What was I supposed to say? "I'm sorry"?

Except in a specific context, would be if the speaker (presumably the narrator, given that there are no quotes around the passage) is asking if they should have asked "I'm sorry?" As in "I'm sorry? I didn't say I was sorry!" except with the latter sentence.

The question mark is on the outside of the quotes otherwise because the speaker is asking a question, and the phrase which is the question is not itself a question (unlike the example I gave above, in which she would be stating a question she isn't actually asking).

You never double-up on end punctuation, so it most certainly is not: What was I supposed to say? "I'm sorry."?

The only thing I'm doubting is when you have two sets of quotes. "What was I supposed to say? 'I'm sorry'?" That looks a little odd to me.