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

Re: Punctuation within quotes?

Anonymous — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 16:06:53 GMT

These punctuation marks (the British call them inverted commas) come in two forms, double and single. The double quotation marks (opening â and closing â) are used to enclose the words of a direct quotation: She said, âIâll never see you again.â (They are never used in indirect quotation: She said sheâd never see him again.) They are also used to enclose words or phrases quoted from others or words that may be slang or that are in some other way being used peculiarly: The speaker tried to put a favorable âspinâ on his denial. The âpacification planâ was in fact simply a euphemism for a bloody conquest. But be sparing: most editors discourage the use of such quotation marks for effect rather than for a substantive reason, and overuse of these marks in any writing is affected.	1
Convention also calls for double quotation marks around the titles of short stories, short poems, short musical compositions, and the names of plays, chapters in books, and radio and television programs: Frostâs âThe Road Not Taken,â âEye Witness News.â (Titles of longer works usually require italics instead, and sometimes the decision is arbitrary or simply conventional: books of the Bible, for example, are almost always italicized rather than placed in quotation marks, and the same is true of the titles of Shakespeareâs plays.)	2
A key problem with quotation marks is which other marks of punctuation go inside the closing quotation mark(s) and which belong outside. In the United States, most stylebooks and most editors follow these rules: periods and commas belong inside, colons and semicolons outside. Other marksâquestion mark, dash, and exclamation point, for exampleâgo inside when they belong with the quoted material, outside when they belong to the main sentence. British editorial conventions differ.	3
When quoting a long passage of two or more paragraphs, the usual procedure in written American English is to use no quotation marks and instead to set off the entire passage of quoted matter by indenting it. If you decide to use quotation marks instead, however, the usual procedure is to begin each paragraph of the long quotation with quotation marks but to use a closing quotation mark only at the end of the final sentence in the quoted passage. In any event, use only one of these methods with any given quotation. See also POETRY.	4
British publishers frequently use single quotation marks (opening â and closing â) where Americans use double quotation marks. In American writing, however, single quotation marks are restricted mainly to enclosing a quotation within a quotation: The dealer said, âIâm sorry, I thought you said âI pass.ââ Note that a period goes inside both final quotation marks when the two quotations end together.

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."