Re: PPB: Poem for Kathy / Will Dockery

> NancyGene wrote:
> 
>> George J. Dance wrote:
>> 
>>> Will-Dockery wrote:
>>> 
>>>> Miguel Sucio wrote:
>>>> [snip]
>>> 
>>> 
>>> Okay, you're right, for whatever reasons neither Pendragon or Dance has responded on the correct way to use a comma "inside quotation marks."
>>> 
>>> I suppose it isn't worth arguing about, anyhow, so we can just forget about it if you want to.
>>> 
>>> If GJD or Pendragon see this and want to comment, fine. Otherwise I say let's not continue wasting time going around and around over it.
>>> 
>>> If it happens again I'll probably mention it, but I have a feeling you won't be making that same mistake again, Miguel.
>>> 
>>> 
>> 
>> 
>> I suspect that it may be a time-waster, but since you name-checked me I'll venture
>> one quick response.
>> 
>> First off, the he /Chicago Manual of Style/ agrees with you. Here's an example:
>> "In publications that follow Chicago style, commas and periods are placed before a closing quotation mark, “like this,” rather than after, “like this”. This convention has persisted even though it’s no longer universally followed outside the United States and isn’t entirely logical.
>> The other standard marks of sentence punctuation"semicolons, colons, question marks, exclamation points, and dashes"go after a closing quotation mark unless they belong to the quoted matter."
>> 
>> That's the rule in American English (whichh follows CMoS), and if you're a student at an American school, or writing for
>> an American publicaition, that's the rule you should follow.
>> 
>> Since I'm neither, I don't follow that rule; I prefer the more logical one of putting commas and periods inside the
>> quotation marks only if they are part of the quoted material. when a complete sentence is being quoted, it makes
>> sense to put the period inside, or a comma if it's taking the place of a period:
>> 
>> He said, "I'll do that when time permits."
>> or
>> "I'll do that when time permits," he said.
>> 
>> But if you're quoting a sentecce fragment, which doesn't end with any punctuation, it makes sense to not include punctuation:
>> 
>> He said he'll do that "when time permits".
>> or
>> He'll do that "when time permits", or so he said.
>> 
>> Having corresponded with MMP for more than a decade, I have a good idea how he'd respond. He's a champion of
>> American English, and likes to quote /CMOS/. However, since he probably considers it more important to never
>> ackowledge that you're right about anything, I suspect he won't be commenting.
> 
> 
> George J. Dunce, we are NOT talking about American English, but that other English-speaking writers may follow a different rule.
> 



That may be what you're talking about, but it's not what anyone else in the thread has been talking about. Will and Kevin are disagreeing about the rules of American English. If you'd rather talk about something else, go open
your own thread; you should remember how to do that.


> 
> We don't know where Miguel is from or lives, but he has the right to write according to the conventions of his country (or the U.S.).
> 



AAPC is an alt. group; Miguel or anyone else can follow the grammar rules they like, or none at all if they
prefer; and anyone who doesn't like that has the same freedom to criticize them. See how that works?


> 
> Will Donkey is wrong to criticize Miguel when Will Donkey cannot even write one sentence without making two mistakes.  George J. Dunce again misses the point.



I understand your point completely. You're upset that Will is playing Grammar Gestapo, when you think
you're the real Grammar Gestapo. 


This response appears in the discussion at:
http://www.jlaforums.com/viewtopic.php?p=701517398#701517398

-- 
Via JLA Forums web gateway for alt.arts.poetry.comments:
http://www.jlaforums.com/viewforum.php?f=655