Why is the comma after the closing inverted comma?

English as a Second Language English Vocabulary, Grammar and Idioms
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‘Girl number twenty’, said Mr Gradgrind, squarely pointing with his square forefinger, ‘I don’t know that girl. Who is that girl?’

Why is the comma after ‘twenty’ outside the closing inverted comma?

Thanks.

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I think it’s just a typo. Would you agree, @Alan and @Andrea, @Anglophile?

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I agree with @Torsten. It’s a mistake. The comma should be inside.

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Agreed about the punctuation.

Alan

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Many thanks, Torsten, Andrea and Alan!

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Usually, the inverted commas (speech marks or quotation marks) are used to punctuate a direct speech. So, to me, single inverted commas need to be changed into double.

As regards the question, yes, I concur with all of you. It might be a typo. The concept is to place the words spoken and also the punctuation indicating the speaker’s mood (Here, it is a comma by which the speaker means to say something further connected with what has already been said) within inverted commas.

“Girl number twenty,” said Mr Gradgrind, squarely pointing with his square forefinger, “I don’t know that girl. Who is that girl?” (By the way, Girl No.20 would have been better. Now, may I know what SQUARE forefinger means)

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Single quotation marks are commonly used in British Novels.

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Perhaps, it saves time, space and energy!

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‘Girl number twenty’ is written as the author, Charles Dickens, intended it to be.

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Sorry, I haven’t read this work of Charles Dickens. But in that case, wouldn’t it be Girl Number Twenty?

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I would say that it’s correct as he is talking to her/shouting at her. It’s not a title of the book.

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Many thanks to all of you!

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That means it is a name. So, out of curiosity, I googled and found this in support of my suggestion about capitalisation:

Question: “Mr Gradgrind calls Sissy “Girl Number Twenty” what does this tell you about his ideas about education?”
Answer: In “Hard Times” from Charles Dickens in tale “The Schoolmaster”, Mr Gradgrind was a harsh teacher and embarassed Sissy, her pupil and call her Girl Number Twenty. This question is about them.

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Yes, I saw on the internet that it has variants but I think the original printed book is as we saw it at the beginning of this post. Really, this isn’t even related to the original question.

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Just to clarify. Mr Gradgrind didn’t know the girl’s name and that’s why he referred to her as ‘Girl number twenty’ - basically just a number. She then told him her name was Sissy Jupe. After that he told her to use the name Cecilia as Sissy wasn’t a name - according to him.

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