Re: Colons and Quotations in Tech Manuals

["baotong.gu.1" <gubaoton -at- purdue -dot- edu>]

Hi, Isis,

I'm not sure if you will ever be able to find answers to your
questions in any book. I'm saying this because this question has come up more than
once in my editing class, and I've looked at all sources I could get my
hands on but have never seen it addressed anywhere.

This is what I usually tell my students (based on a review of related
rules from various sources):

Yes, grammar books and style guides tell you that the colon should
be placed outside the quotation marks. However, this only applies to
cases where the colon belongs to the whole sentence, not the quoted material.
In your case, since the colon is part of what is displayed on the screen,
I would definitely include it within the quotation marks.

As for the period, normally if there's already a punctuation mark (such
as a colon, a semicolon, a question mark, etc.) within the quotation mark,
there's no need to add another period to the sentence even though the
meaning and structure of the sentence may seem to call for one.

Sorry I can't offer any book titles that would back up my claims,
although the part about the period can be confirmed by several sources
(Chicago Manual of Style, for one, has some discussion on this).

Not sure if this will be of any help to you in winning your case with
your supervisor. Just my 2c.

Baotong Gu
Eastern Washington University

On Thu, 7 Jun 2001, Erb, Isis wrote:

> Hi All,
>
> I'm new to the list, so please forgive me if this topic has been covered (I
> didn't find anything in the archives addressing this issue).
>
> My boss and I are in disagreement about how to handle this topic:
>
> 1) Traditional US grammar rules state that you should put the colon on the
> outside of a direct quotation. But for a technical manual that is putting
> something that the users see on their screen into quotes, should the colon
> remain inside the quotation marks (assuming the colon also appears on the
> screen)?
> 	Example: The turret displays, "Enter diversion num then Save:"
>
> 2) If the colon is retained within the quotation marks, and the quotation
> falls at the end of a sentence, would you use a period? If so, would you
> place it inside the quotation marks or outside?
>
> Thank you all for any help you can offer. And if you know of this being
> addressed in a book, please tell me the title of the book. That would go a
> long way toward convincing my boss! : )
>
> Isis Erb
> Technical Publications
> Global Crossing Financial Markets
> d/b/a IPC Trading Systems
> PH: (203) 339-7824
> Fax: (203) 339-7086
> E-mail: isis -dot- erb -at- globalcrossing -dot- com
> URL: www.globalcrossing.com


^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

*** Deva(tm) Tools for Dreamweaver and Deva(tm) Search ***
Build Contents, Indexes, and Search for Web Sites and Help Systems
Available now at http://www.devahelp.com or info -at- devahelp -dot- com

Sponsored by Cub Lea, specialist in low-cost outsourced development
and documentation. Overload and time-sensitive jobs at exceptional
rates. Unique free gifts for all visitors to http://www.cublea.com

---
You are currently subscribed to techwr-l as: archive -at- raycomm -dot- com
To unsubscribe send a blank email to leave-techwr-l-obscured -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com
Send administrative questions to ejray -at- raycomm -dot- com -dot-  Visit 
http://www.raycomm.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.