Search results for 'tag:American English tag:Question marks' matching tags 'American English' and 'Question marks'

Re: The question mark/comma/quotation mark debacle

RayH — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 15:30:19 GMT

Please note that American English likes to place the final punctuation mark inside a title or quotation, even though it doesn't form part of it.
The British regard this practice as illogical.
AmE: He's always wanted to read "Moby Dick," "Oliver Twist" and "The Great Gatsby."

BrE: He's always wanted to read "Moby Dick", "Oliver Twist" and "The Great Gatsby".

Here is the link to the site this came from if you want to check it yourself. The relevant section is near the bottom of the screen under the heading "quotation marks".

HTH

http://www.davidappleyard.com/english/punctuation.htm

Re: naa or know?

khoff — Sun, 21 Oct 2007 19:14:11 GMT

Usually my friend asks of me "You have completed your work naa"

I also thought at first that it meant "now," but if you had put a question mark after "naa" my response would have been quite different.

Gary, where is your friend from? It sounds to me like it might be a version of "you have completed your work, no?" (like 'n'est-ca pas" in French -- a way of forming a question by putting an interrogative "no?" after a statement) that belongs to a particular location. It sounds really familiar to me, but I can't place where I've heard it. Still that doesn't explain "This pen is her only naa?" unless you meant to write "this pen is her only one, naa?"

In standard American English, we would be more likely to say "you've finished your work, right?"

In the speech pattern of a certain group of Native Americans (I forget which tribe, but they appear in the fiction of author Sherman Alexie) it's common to hear "you've finished your work, innit?" -- from "isn't it?", which is the translation of "n'est-ce pas")

Re: Punctuation within quotes?

Anonymous — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 21:37:56 GMT

For american English, a period ending a sentence should always go inside the quotation marks. A question mark ending a sentence goes inside the quotation marks if you are quoting a question, outside if you are asking a question, inside if both. You should never have punctuation both inside and outside the quotation marks.

She said, "Go to the store."
Did she say "Go to the store"?
She said, "Should I go to the store?"
Did she say "Should I go to the store?"

Re: Glottal Stops

CalifJim — Sat, 01 Oct 2005 06:57:47 GMT

The glottal stop is used in American English, yes, but not in the same places, necessarily, as for British English. It's used (for some speakers) just before the final unreleased "t" when "t" is final after a vowel.
"That's it!" (The final "t" is rendered by a glottal stop and/or an unreleased "t" in AmE.)
Some people in the more easterly parts of the U.S. use the glottal stop for "t" in words like "catalog", but this is not at all common.

The IPA symbol looks something like a question mark as I recall.

CJ

Re: British versus american expressions

khoff — Tue, 15 Mar 2005 17:34:38 GMT

I learned the American rules for punctuation: periods and commas always go inside the quotation marks; colons and semi-colons always go outside; and question marks and exclamation points go where they actually make sense. I agree it's not logical, and sometimes I want to rebel and put that period outside the quotation marks, but years of training usually prevail. Can we accept it as an illogical but perhaps endearing quirk - kind of like switching the fork from right hand to left hand?
I do agree with Eric about a sub-current of anti-American-English on this forum- (I would not go so far as to call it anti-Americanism) - before I started reading this board, I had no idea that some people felt so strongly that Americans were ruining the English language, or somehow usurping the rights to it. I don't think American English is inherently less logical - there are exceptions like the punctuation question described above, but certainly British English -- or "standard English" -- or English as spoken in the UK -- or "the only REAL English," as some people seem to think of it -- also has its inconsistencies. Languages evolve, and there are a lot of us speaking English the American way. We mean no harm by it, honestly. We are not trying to destroy your traditions or corrupt your children. We are simply speaking our native language, which we have always thought of as "English."