ESL General English Grammar Questions

Re: Quotation marks + punctuation (Guest:Richard3)

haideh — Tue, 03 May 2005 21:07:34 GMT

I would like to know about punctuation in this setence: yes I love it

Re: Quotation marks + punctuation (Guest:Richard3)

Guest — Tue, 03 May 2005 20:55:03 GMT

I want to know about punctuation in this sentence: yes I love it

Re: Quotation marks + punctuation (Guest:Richard3)

Guest — Tue, 29 Jun 2004 19:50:34 GMT

I am writing a book where do I quotation marks in or out of the period when the character are talking.

Re: Quotation marks + punctuation

Shakespeare's Shrew — Mon, 10 May 2004 18:15:45 GMT

Excellent answer! I absolutely agree with this ruling based on both of your reasons. I , however, have not been able to find this in a published manual. I remembered learning it years ago, but do not know the source. Can you help? Is it in CMS or Strunk & White, etc.? Please reply so that I can back my reasoning with some evidence. Thank you.

Re: Another quotation mark question.

rommie — Thu, 19 Feb 2004 14:13:39 GMT

In this forum. It's disappeared onto page 2 (or possibly even page 3 by now). Look for a thread called "The Punctuation FAQ". If you think it's any good, please say so because I'm not a moderator or an adminstrator and I can't make these things permanent.

Rommie

Re: Another quotation mark question.

Jagat — Thu, 19 Feb 2004 04:43:08 GMT

Where?

Re: Another quotation mark question.

rommie — Tue, 17 Feb 2004 21:06:20 GMT

Okay, I've written quite a long FAQ now. It's in another thread.

Rommie.

Re: Another quotation mark question.

Jagat — Tue, 17 Feb 2004 16:55:40 GMT

Yes. My writer is British, but the publication will be in American.

Re: Another quotation mark question.

rommie — Tue, 17 Feb 2004 14:17:57 GMT

I'm too busy to answer this now, but I'll answer it this evening if you can hang on a few hours. There ARE differences between British English and American English. Will talk later. Rommie.

Another quotation mark question.

Guest — Tue, 17 Feb 2004 00:31:44 GMT

I am new and I came across this website as a result of a Google search for punctuation marks. I am actually doing a lot of editing and proofreading these days. The writer I am currently working on seems to detest introducing quoted material with anything so mundane as "He said, she said."

Typically, he writes in the following way:

=== Yaja smiled at the king. âYour wife desired a daughter." ===

My question is about that period. It doesn't seem right to me. I think the logical relationship between the two is clear here and a comma would be the correct punctuation to use.

On the other hand, what about this:

=== Again the heavenly voice was heard. âThis is Krishnaa, who has appeared to do the work of the gods and to bring about the destruction of countless evil princes.â ===

Is a period, comma, or colon more appropriate here?

In case you are interested, this is from a popularization of the Indian epic, Mahabharata.

I'll be registering under the username Jagat and will be back.

Thanks for your help.

Re: Quotation marks + punctuation (Guest:Richard3)

kitkattail — Tue, 12 Aug 2003 15:36:01 GMT

I don't think there is a good reason. I believe the convention arose because printers found that it was easier to read and worked better with the printing technology of the day... or some such thing. But don't quote me on that; I could be wrong.

Re: Quotation marks + punctuation (Guest:Richard3)

hitchhiker — Tue, 17 Jun 2003 01:53:04 GMT

Hey Carla, good to have you back!

What on earth would be the reasoning behind that?! They have got a good reason right?

I'm not even going into the 'centre/center' debate.
Also see our frequently asked questions

Re: Quotation marks + punctuation (Guest:Richard3)

carla — Tue, 17 Jun 2003 01:38:42 GMT

FYI, in the United States almost all punctuation goes inside the quotation marks, so there the former would be correct. In the United Kingdom (and therefore Europe, I assume) it would be outside though, as hitchhiker says.

Re: Quotation marks + punctuation (Guest:Richard3)

hitchhiker — Tue, 17 Jun 2003 00:53:34 GMT

I'd say definitely the latter..

a) The punctuation is not part of the quote, so it shouldn't be inside the quotation marks.
b) The punctuation is separating the quote from the rest of the sentence, hence it's appearance outside.

"...fighting in the area", which indicates that.. is correct in English.

Quotation marks + punctuation (Guest:Richard3)

Guest — Mon, 16 Jun 2003 22:49:44 GMT

When using quotation marks, does one insert punctuation marks that are not actually part of the quotation inside or outside the closing quotation mark?

Examples: "...there was much fighting in the area," which indicates that ....

or should it be:

"...fighting in the area", which indicates that ....

I am seeing more books with the latter example and I think I was taught the former when I was in school. Has the general rule changed or am I remembering wrongly?