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Duplicate of:
What’s the difference between using single and double quotation marks/inverted commas?
How are embedded quotations used?
And:
When should end punctuation go inside quotes?
Is it correct to use “punctuation outside of the quotations”, or “inside?”

Let me know if this belongs on Writers.se. Furthermore, I have a strong feeling this has already been covered, but I wouldn’t know where, since I don’t know what to name this situation.

Moving on, I will express a dialogue like this:

A:  “What did he say to you?’

B1:  “He leaned close to me, and said in a gravely and drunken voice, “It’s not easy.” ”

Or would it be,

B2:  “He leaned close to me, and said in a gravely and drunken voice, ‘It’s not easy.’ ”

Or,

B3:  “He leaned close to me, and said in a gravely and drunken voice, “It’s not easy”.”

I’ve tried to be helpful (and probably failed), but let me know.

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    The answer is B2. I suspect this will get closed as general reference, but that doesn't mean it was a bad question. I appreciate the effort you put into it. For more helpful advice on how to use quotation marks (and other punctuation), I recommend the Purdue OWL; this particular question falls under Quotations within a Quotation.
    – J.R.
    Nov 24, 2012 at 11:00
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    Welcome to ELU. J.R.'s quite right, B2. This question is frequently asked here, so I'll refer you to an earlier one. ... Also, "gravely" is an adverb: "gravely drunken" or "grave and drunken".
    – StoneyB on hiatus
    Nov 24, 2012 at 11:02
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    @StoneyB: You are right about grave, of course, except I think maybe that's a misspelling of gravelly, so, "gravelly and drunken" would also work.
    – J.R.
    Nov 24, 2012 at 11:13
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    And one might say something gravely in a drunken voice, so a slight rearrangement of the words makes sense too.
    – Andrew Leach ♦
    Nov 24, 2012 at 11:27
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    To sum it up, you must alternate between single and double quotes — single go inside double go inside single go inside double etc. See the first two questions this has been closed as a duplicate of. The other two questions address the difference between putting the period (or comma) inside vs. outside the quotes — it's a US vs. UK thing. "Dialogue" is a red herring here — you are really interested in (nested) quotes or quotations. I have edited and retagged accordingly.
    – RegDwigнt
    Nov 24, 2012 at 14:07

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