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« Smiles and Metaphors | Main | Georgia Peach Pie »

June 30, 2006

Comments

fragile industries

As I've discussed on my blog a while back, I am a grammar snob too. I remember the wars that were waged over punctuation placement when I worked for the Court. The style book there was not always in synch with all authorites either, and this became a heated topic now and then. Fortunately, I no longer write for such an exacting crowd, and follow my instincts. I'm sure I would be called to task on many occasions by one book or another, as the above demonstrates.

"@%&)(^%#>>?,." Indeed.

keewee

Who really cares, as long as you can understand what is written.
I also say #?%*+@

Bob White

I always put the comma and period on the outside. I think it goes with being a computer programmer. The purpose of the comma and period are, respectively to end a phrase or a sentence. The purpose of the quote marks is to delimit their contents. By putting the points inside quotes, one would be making them a part of the quoted material and leaving the sentence unterminated. I don't know much about computer language parsing programs, but I'd guess the parser's grammar would be less complicated with the period and comma outside the quotes.

John White

As Bob's brother, I feel the need to clarify.

You put the comma inside the quotation marks when it acts as the end of a complete sentence only. Otherwise, if you write a phrase with "quoted material", you put the comma outside the quotation marks. You can also put the period outside the quotation marks when you end a sentence that ends with "quoted material". If the period is part of the "quoted material", then put it inside the "quoted material". Otherwise, "Just (don't) do it."

But, we Americans do not ascribe to any rule if we think that we can do it better. If, for instance, the letters on the page look better with commas inside of quotes; then, by golly, we will put those commas where they think they are prettier!

But who makes up these rules anyway, the Punctuation Police?

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