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Subject:Re: Single vs. double quotes? From:"Doc" <dlettvin -at- attbi -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Thu, 27 Jun 2002 11:58:39 -0400
Given the choice, I'd vote for punctuation outside quotes if it is not
integral to the material within them.
As a simplistic example example:
The extension for the file containing the table of contents is "TOC".
With the period within the quotes, a neophyte could assume that TOC. is the
extension.
But then I'm somewhat literal in my attitudes.
If you're writing the SG then it's okay to agonize over this issue, but
punctuation goes wherever the style guide says it does . . . consistently!
You can change consistent usage globally.
Consistency is one of the greatest virtues of TW, and unlike sincerity, it
can't be faked.
-Doc
"Sandy Harris" <pashley -at- storm -dot- ca> wrote in message news:158805 -at- techwr-l -dot- -dot- -dot-
>
> CHRISTINE ANAMEIER wrote:
> >
> > > I taught English in America (Georgia) for 12 years and
> > > NEVER encountered that in any text book - just student
> > > papers, where I marked it incorrect and deducted
> > > punctuation points. Punctuation always goes inside the
> > > quotation marks.
> >
> > Sort of. Commas and periods go inside the quotation marks. Colons and
> > semi-colons go outside the quotation marks. With question marks, it
depends on
> > whether they're part of the quote or the sentence as a whole.
> >
> > And this applies to American English. The British do it differently.
>
> See also the discussion here:
>http://tuxedo.org/~esr/jargon/html/Hacker-Writing-Style.html
>
> I invariably put punctuation outside the quotes, unless it is
> part of what I'm quoting.
>
>
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