Re: Comma splQuote Marks (Was: )

[Karl-Erik Bystrom <kbystrom -at- U -dot- WASHINGTON -dot- EDU>]

I have two comments regarding the period/quotation mark issue.

First, I believe that always placing periods within quotation marks is an
instance of American usage, and that the practice may differ in British
English (or whatever the proper term is...); I'd appreciate it if anyone
could provide more information.

Second, you could think of the quotation marks as indicating emphasis of
some sort. (Picture the words "Edit" and "Cut" in italics or a
different font rather than in quotation marks.) In this case, the period
would appear after the emphasis, and so--since the quotation marks
are analogous to the emphasis--the period should go outside the quotation
marks.

The moral: Don't think of it as sloppy writing, just as a different
type of writing.

Karl Bystrom

On Mon, 8 Jan 1996, Dot James wrote:

> >   The sentence
> >
> >                First select "Edit", and then select "Cut".
> >
> >is perfectly okay.  I believe that likewise,

> As a former English teacher, I do NOT find the above sentence "okay." As a
>  person now forced to dabble in tech editing (as a part of my contract job of
>  production word processor), I have run across this use of comma/period with
>  quotation marks. Is this, indeed, characteristic of technical writing? Or do
>  the period and comma belong within the quote marks, per formal writing? (I
 hope
>  for the latter; I hate to think that tech writing is also sloppy writing.)

> --
> Dot James in San Jose, CA        "The secret of happiness is not doing
> dot -at- hpoemb05 -dot- sj -dot- hp -dot- com            what one likes to do, but in liking
> dotjames -at- paladin-usa -dot- com          what one has to do."  -- Sir James Barrie