Kata Markon

[JFAlward AT aol.com]

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.