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Subject: Kata Markon

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  • From: "Shawn J. Kelley" <skelley AT daemen.edu>
  • To: Kata Markon <gmark AT franklin.metalab.unc.edu>
  • Subject: RE: Proper Punctuation
  • Date: Thu, 17 Oct 2002 17:54:51 -0400


It might be worth remembering that Jeff wrote a conference paper- not a
journal
article. He will read it aloud to an audience who will have no idea where the
commas are placed. Given that, isn't this discussion of proper punction a bit
of overkill?

Shawn Kelley



JFAlward AT aol.com wrote:

> 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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