Question

hich of the following is punctuated correctly?
A. Peter Smith says "Whales are more intelligent than people believe."
B. Peter Smith says: "Whales are more intelligent than people believe."
C. Peter Smith says, "Whales are more intelligent than people believe."
D. Peter Smith says, "Whales are more intelligent than people believe".

Answer 1

the period always goes inside of the quotes, so you can eliminate answer D.

to answer the question of what type of punctuation, if any, precedes the quote, just think about what you normally see when you read. you don't usually see too much of the second choice, with a colon, so that answer can be thrown away too.

you're left with two choices. so i ask you, "which choice do you feel is right?" ;)