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Subject: Kata Markon

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  • From: JFAlward AT aol.com
  • To: gmark AT franklin.oit.unc.edu
  • Subject: RE: Proper Punctuation
  • Date: Thu, 17 Oct 2002 17:35:11 EDT


In a message dated 10/17/02 1:31:05 PM Pacific Daylight Time,
eric.eve AT harris-manchester.oxford.ac.uk writes:

<< I can't speak for American usage, but whence do you derive this rule for
British usage? H.W. Fowler and F.G. Fowler _The King's English_ devote a
couple of pages to this question and certainly do not espouse the rule you
state, but recommend that the punctuation mark should go before the closing
quote mark only if it is part of the quote. >>

That's interesting, Eric. Are you sure the punctuation marks Fowler et al
were referring to were not just the question mark and the exclamation mark?
They must be put inside the quotation mark only if they are part of the
quote, of course.

A check of the major British newspapers and magazines show that more often
then not, the comma and period go before the closing quotation mark.
Unfortunately, the editors sometimes will put the period inside in the
quotation marks in one place, and in the same paragraph they will put the
period or comma outside. They often seem, like Goodacre, not to be
consistent, or else they don't care. Now, irrespective of what Fowler et al
may say, it would seem to me that if the King James Bible exhibits not a
single instance of the comma or period appearing after the closing quotation
mark, it makes sense for Bible scholars to use the same rule. At the very
least, authors need to pick a rule, and stick to it, rather than flip a coin
each time.




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