"Is this right," or "is this right", I'm not sure.

One way is English, one way is American. It doesn’t really matter. :)

American is inside the “XXX,” and English is outside the “XXX”. I was taught inside was correct.

Wow… i always thought the latter is the right one.

I was taught the comma should be placed inside the quotes, not outside.

Another vote for inside.

inside.

so is this an american thing?

Inside is American, yes. It doesn’t make it any less legible either way though.

I learnt the comma goes outside, but I’m a Brit. So that may explain things.

British usage specifies that punctuation (usually) goes outside the quotation mark; in American usage the punctuation (usually) goes inside the quotation mark.

Wikipedia has a good entry on this (search the page for “American”).

Inside.

I almost always put the comma inside the quotes.
But there are some times when that doesn’t look right to me and I switch it.

before the advent of the printing press the punctuation went outside the quotes. However once printers started setting type they put the full stop or comma inside the quotes as the piece of type with the quotes on was bigger than the full stop bit and so less likely to get damaged or lost at the end of a line.

While some sources do suggest that out side is the proper “English” way, inside is just as correct over here as it is over that side of the “pond”.

ok-awesome thanks everyone. i learned something new today—very interesting!

Ain’t Fluther great?

I frankly don’t know, but outside LOOKS better. :)

It is not entirely accurate that there is one agreed-upon standard for America, and one for the U.K..

What’s “right” is being consistent and intentional, and one common and easy way to be grammatically correct that way, is to choose a style guide (e.g. from The University of Chicago) and follow it.

English teacher says inside!

However you will see American papers do outside because they have their own style books (Associated Press, etc.)