Punctuation of reported speech within direct speech?

Question

I've got a fiction 'speech within speech' situation, and I'd like opinions on how to handle the internal final punctuation -- inside or outside the quotes. This is British English. Example: The character says: [Statement A] "Oh no, he always brings that up, ‘Just like the last time, it’ll be,’ he says, never lets me touch a drop." Problem: in British English that comma after "be" would go outside the final single quote mark if it wasn't direct speech, ie., if an omniscient narrator says: [Statement B] John was liable to say "Just like last time, it'll be", or something like that, which annoyed her. So, in the first example, A, does my character qualify as a surrogate omniscient narrator? In which case the comma should go outside the single quote? Or does the interior quote qualify as a reporting direct speech, in which case the comma stands as I've rendered it, inside the single quote?

Answer 1

Great questions! I would like to clarify your question. You are actually looking to quote direct speech in direct speech. In British English, you use single quotes for the initial quote (') and then double quotes (") for anything inside the initial quote. It also appears that you are using American quotation rules and that there are some run-on sentences in your direct quote.

Corrected Example: The character says, 'Oh no. He always brings that up. "Just like the last time, it'll be," he says. Never lets me touch a drop.'

Best of luck! Keep writing!