Punctuation question, quote within parentheses, at the end of a sentence.?

The period should be outside the closing parenthesis since you're not actually quoting anybody, and they should be single quotation marks since you are referencing a word which isn't a direct quote:

The thing of it is, it doesn't really have to be like that (that being the way you 'describe').

The period would go inside the quotation marks and parentheses ONLY if you are directly quoting someone:

I don't understand why you would do that (especially when he told you, "Stop scratching. That will only make it worse.")

Punctuation Inside Parentheses

Parentheses Within Parentheses

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RE:

Punctuation question, quote within parentheses, at the end of a sentence.?

Example:

The thing of it is, it doesn't really have to be like that (that being the way you "describe.")

What order should the quotation mark, parentheses, and period be in, at the end of this sentence, or a sentence similar to it?

(When a whole sentence is enclosed in parentheses, such as this one, the period should be within.) Like that. But when just a part of a sentence is enclosed then it should be on the outer (of the parentheses). Same thing applies with quotation marks.

The thing of it is, it doesn't really have to be like that (that being the way you "describe").

("That" being the way you describe.)

(That, being, the way you "describe".)

You know what, I'm not too sure about the quotations (does the period go inside or outside?). Or even that, lol. Blah. So much for school eh.

*geniuses, "lol".

I would write it this way:

The thing of it is, it doesn't really have to be like that, 'that' being the way you describe it.

Instead of 'that', you can use italics for 'that' without single quotation marks.

No parentheses

Period at ther end only.

No double quotation marks unless the whole spoken part is quoted.

Example:

She said to him, "The thing of it is, it doesn't really have to be like that, 'that' (or italics) being the way you describe."

;-)

America is moving from "describe." to "describe". I think England and Europe is ahead of this in that trend.

http://grammartips.homestead.com/inside.html (old rule)

Ah, here is Wiki on the subject:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quotation_mark#Punctu...

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Good to see Carolus again.