Monday 7th December 2009
19:33

PUT THE COMMA INSIDE THE QUOTATION MARK.

minou:

lenorebeadsman:

faithandbegorrah:

THE PERIOD TOO. PUT IT IN. PUT IT IN RIGHT NOW.

And after the closing parenthesis (131-133).

I almost just stood up and screamed this at my class. I wanted to before I saw this post, but now I am really tempted.

Unless you’re British, in which case logic applies in the same way it does with question/exclamation marks. Though with all the American English we tend to read, it looks irritatingly wrong to me nowadays.

I found an explanation for the variance. It’s written by an American (if the double spacing doesn’t make that glaringly obvious).

[I]t seems to be the result of historical accident.   When type was handset, a period or comma outside of quotation marks at the end of a sentence tended to get knocked out of position, so the printers tucked the little devils inside the quotation marks to keep them safe and out of trouble.  But apparently only American printers were more attached to convenience than logic, since British printers continued to risk the misalignment of their periods and commas.

117 notes:
  1. carlymarie reblogged this from crowth
  2. carlymarie reblogged this from choire and added:
    I get that this is what is supposed to happen, but can someone please explain to me WHYYYYYYYYY? Sometimes it looks...
  3. saveitforthejudge reblogged this from cosmocatalano and added:
    Typesetter style: punctuation inside for aesthetics. punctuation inside or outside for logic. On this issue I side with...
  4. kellysutton reblogged this from june85 and added:
    When you code for a living, you run into this on a daily basis. :)
  5. june85 reblogged this from kellysutton and added:
    Well if you are giving out “password.” this could be assumed that the period is part of the password. So yeah, depends...
  6. am- reblogged this from yurztruly and added:
    nah, you don’t have to. i don’t like it if the comma or full stop doesn’t belong to what the person has said. (a quick...
  7. napoleonsbattleplan reblogged this from crowth and added:
    Huh. We were just talking about this in class. Another missed opportunity to look smart.
  8. slaughtered reblogged this from faithandbegorrah
  9. cherrispryteaintsobrite reblogged this from misterhippity and added:
    Thank you a million times over. They are academic papers I’m proofing (hell, they’re ones I’ve written) but my...
  10. faithandbegorrah reblogged this from misterhippity
  11. sarahheartburn reblogged this from misterhippity and added:
    Mnnn..this catholic school brat remembers that periods only fall before the quote if what’s quoted is a complete...
  12. aatombomb reblogged this from misterhippity and added:
    This always confuses me. I tend to magically think that periods go outside the quotes if it’s just a quoted word or...
  13. poisonville reblogged this from misterhippity and added:
    Things Chicago won’t tell you: What about a quote within a quote? “So then he said, ‘That’s what she said,’” I said. I...
  14. misterhippity reblogged this from cherrispryteaintsobrite and added:
    [Warning: Editor-geek-talk stuff follows; page down if uninterested …] I think it’s covered pretty well in the many...
  15. cherrispryteaintsobrite reblogged this from misterhippity and added:
    Help me, Hippity and other similar grammar gods. Are there ANY exceptions to the “Comma inside quotation marks” rule?...
  16. cosmocatalano reblogged this from choire and added:
    You’re wrong. How do you propose to differentiate between terminal punctuation attributable to the quoted source and...
  17. withoutane reblogged this from svstar and added:
    Agreed. I’ll also make the obligatory “That’s what she said” joke in reference to the first posting.
  18. joethelion reblogged this from choire
  19. misterhippity reblogged this from faithandbegorrah and added:
    NOW.” Anyone made the “That’s what she said” joke yet …?
  20. leftunderbooks reblogged this from peterfeld and added:
    It’s not that dogmatic, yo:...“More here”, okay? :p ;)
  21. jdel reblogged this from peterfeld and added:
    This is one of the few punctuational gripes that I happen to side with the English on. Why would I put a period inside a...
  22. thefondest reblogged this from hortenseg and added:
    IRREGARDLESS. IRREGARDLESS. I CANNOT BELIEVE THAT IS SOMETHING THAT PEOPLE ACTUALLY SAY. I am starting to halfway miss...
  23. hortenseg reblogged this from haguenite and added:
    A lot. Alot? A lot.
  24. kellysutton reblogged this from thatgirlallison and added:
    Or get with the times. The Internet and the particularity of syntax has actually led to a shift in the other direction....
  25. faithandbegorrah reblogged this from hortenseg and added:
    *h: PUT THE COMMA INSIDE THE QUOTATION MARK. Tastes
  26. haguenite reblogged this from hortenseg and added:
    How much did writing that hurt you, really?
  27. yurztruly reblogged this from faithandbegorrah
  28. hortenseg reblogged this from faithandbegorrah and added:
    whatever faith your just jellus of my grammer skillz,; becuz your’e all like dr. english Person or whatver irregardless...
  29. svstar reblogged this from graceinsmallthings and added:
    Me too. How can anyone think this: “afhierhflkafhe”. looks normal?
  30. thatgirlallison reblogged this from peterfeld and added:
    This kills me too. Grammar, grammar, grammar! It’s not hard!
  31. inothernews reblogged this from choire and added:
    As long as you don’t Strunk my White.
  32. crowth reblogged this from minou and added:
    Unless you’re British, in which case logic applies in the same way it does with question/exclamation marks. Though with...
  33. peterfeld reblogged this from choire and added:
    Not afraid to be servicey.
  34. graceinsmallthings reblogged this from meredithbklyn and added:
    Nerd alert reblog. This drives me crazy, too.
  35. meredithbklyn reblogged this from choire
  36. choire reblogged this from faithandbegorrah and added:
    THANK YOU. I will go a-killing someday over this.
  37. sheisback reblogged this from faithandbegorrah and added:
    reblogging mainly for the tags, because they are the best part though, i love the whole post
  38. lenorebeadsman reblogged this from faithandbegorrah and added:
    And after the closing parenthesis (131-133).
  39. love-and-radiation reblogged this from faithandbegorrah and added:
    THE PUNCTUATION OUTSIDE THE QUOTATION MARK NEED TO DIE...A FIRE. Or have a stone in their...
  40. yosamanthrax reblogged this from faithandbegorrah
  41. faithandbegorrah posted this
Comments (View)»
« Older · Home · Newer »