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Subject:RE: Period/comma then close quote, or vice versa? From:"Downing, David" <DavidDowning -at- Users -dot- com> To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Fri, 8 Apr 2005 09:39:24 -0400
Seems to me that the real bottom line in technical writing is -- do it
in whatever way will make the meaning clearest. My impression is that
the Chicago manual of style was originally intended to apply to more
academic/literary writing, so that its rules won't always work for
technical writing.
-----Original Message-----
From: nosnivel -at- netvision -dot- net -dot- il [mailto:nosnivel -at- netvision -dot- net -dot- il]
Sent: Thursday, April 07, 2005 5:49 AM
Subject: Period/comma then close quote, or vice versa?
I don't need to be told how many people don't care about this, but...
The Chicago Manual of Style advises that although American style puts
commas and periods before closing quotation marks, in computer-related
writing the sequence may be reversed for the sake of clarity. (That is,
"Type 'GO'."
instead of "Type 'GO.'" if the period isn't to be typed.)
Does anyone have a well-founded general impression of current common
American practice in computer-related writing? Where are most
computer-related American companies putting the period when the period
is not part of the source being quoted? Inside the quotation marks
anyway? Outside?
Usually inside, but outside if there's a problem to avoid?
Or are they dodging the issue-- by rewriting, setting the quoted
material outside the sentence, etc.?
Mark L. Levinson
Herzliya, Israel
nosnivel -at- netvision -dot- net -dot- il
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