British placement of punctuation relative to inverted commas

Solution 1:

You're confusing the usage of quotation marks for direct speech and for "a word or phrase that’s being discussed, or that’s being directly quoted from somewhere else". (Oxford Dictionaries)

In direct speech, both British and American English put the punctuation mark inside the quotation.

Both British and American

"I would like to know how this occurred," he said.

The versions of English differ in direct quotes, with regards to commas and periods. British English puts them outside the quotation marks whereas American English puts them inside.

British

I am what you would call a "renaissance man".

American

I am what you would call a "renaissance man."

As Peter Shor helpfully pointed out, the punctuation goes inside the quotation marks if it is part of the direct quote, regardless of whether it is British or American.

Both British and American

The research question was "What is the effect of changing the angle of launch on projectile range?"

Before his execution, Ned Kelly famously said "Such is life."

Sources: Purdue University (American), University of Sussex (British), APA Style Blog, The Punctuation Guide (both)