ENGLISH EXPERTISE REQUESTED

[JAG]

Dear English Experts,

While reviewing some materials before they get published, I came into disagreement with some of my colleagues with respect to the punctuation sequence illustrated in the following sentences ...

EXAMPLE: We aked the question "Is the economic downturn going to end?" Pierre Grant CFO of Swank Group recently replied, "NO".

QUESTION -> "NO". --or-- "NO."

EXAMPLE: The markets will continue to go through a series of "corrections".

QUESTION -> "corrections". --or-- "corrections."

Which comes first -- the period or the closing quotation marks?

I always ended things off with the quotes; now I am not so sure.

Thanks in advance!

[dragster]

While it's rather indiff where you put the period ep in modern written English, I usually put it after the quotation marks at the end of a paragraph!

[Electrophile]

Punctuation goes inside the quotation marks.

http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/quotes.asp

[Mattmc1973]

Punctuation goes inside the quotation marks.

http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/quotes.asp

That would apply to his first example, but not his second. In the second example, the period would go outside of "corrections".

[JAG]

Thank-you guys for assistance so far!

[Dzldoc]

I've always put the quotations outside any exclamations. It's basically like brackets

( " He said No!" ) ( It was raining that day. ) I'm no english major but It just seems to fit. Anybody?

[Footsteps of Dawn]

From my favorite grammar site:

Put commas and periods within quotation marks, except when a parenthetical reference follows.

He said, "I may forget your name, but I never forget a face."

History is stained with blood spilled in the name of "civilization."

Mullen, criticizing the apparent inaction, writes, "Donahue's policy was to do nothing" (24).

So yeah, the period (and the comma) allllways goes inside the quotation (unless you're writing a research paper, like in the last example). It's a different story with question marks, exclamation points and semicolons, though.

Edited February 28, 2008 by Footsteps of Dawn

[dragster]

I noticed that the replies above are quite contradictory and unestablished from a modern English point of view, so it only goes to show how written English has changed over the years and how it has become rather arbitrary in usage.

[Electrophile]

I noticed that the replies above are quite contradictory and unestablished from a modern English point of view, so it only goes to show how written English has changed over the years and how it has become rather arbitrary in usage.

What has become arbitrary in usage....written English? I think written English is becoming an art form anymore, rather than a necessity. It shouldn't be that way. Knowing how to spell, puncuate sentences, write a sentence, use proper grammar....these are things that native English speakers should be able to do with ease, no matter the setting they're in. It's a damn shame that more people can't, because it's embarrassing. I was reading part of my sister's history project that she's doing in a group, because she wanted another pair of eyes to check for mistakes and you'd think she was in 5th grade not college, based on the shitty English the other kids were using. In a term paper. In college. There's no excuse.

[Gainsbarre]

That would apply to his first example, but not his second. In the second example, the period would go outside of "corrections".

That's correct.

If it is a direct quotation, then the punctuation goes inside the quotation mark. If it is just referencing a word of phrase, then the punctuation goes outside the quotation mark.

But I mean these days, who cares? People use apostrophes for plural, like "We have loads of banana's"

[dragster]

I'm an English Cambridge ESOL teacher trainer/examiner/FCE/PET/KET/BEC/CAE teacher and pro interpreter and translator )(my job for the past 25+ odd years) and I can assure you that while your statement above is correct, standardization update course interlocutors (from Cambridge) think it's time for a change in conveying languages......an example? American schoolchildrern are omitting the aux "DO" from the question forms....and that's only ONE example.

Robert

[Gainsbarre]

I'm an English Cambridge ESOL teacher trainer/examiner/FCE/PET/KET/BEC/CAE teacher and pro interpreter and translator )(my job for the past 25+ odd years) and I can assure you that while your statement above is correct, standardization update course interlocutors (from Cambridge) think it's time for a change in conveying languages......an example? American schoolchildrern are omitting the aux "DO" from the question forms....and that's only ONE example.

Robert

But, hopefully there can also be lingual flexibility in choice, like you get with French, in that you can say Est-ce que vous avez un chien? or Avez-vous un chien?

[dragster]

But, hopefully there can also be lingual flexibility in choice, like you get with French, in that you can say Est-ce que vous avez un chien? or Avez-vous un chien?

Sure, I am pro flexibility!