lo.pro
Mar 2002
Senior Member
|
quote:
Originally posted by TeAr-Dr0p
please, allow me to correct your grammar.
It's grammar, not "grammer". --this should have the period inside of the quotes. "Like this." :D
Oh yes, this rip is shit; an interlaced nuke....
4/8/3
please, all of you, desist. this is both petty and ridiculous.
add to that the fact that none of you are exactly masters of style... your time would be better spent brushing up on your strunk & white than on polemics or pedantry.
for the record, the convention of always placing the comma or period inside the quotes ("chicago style") is followed in north america alone; all other english-speaking countries follow the "british style" of placing the comma inside or outside the quotes, depending on context.
the american "chicago style" convention has a pragmatic origin: typesetters began to place the periods & commas inside quotation marks after noticing that the spindly pieces of soft lead used to make the punctuation mark were more likely to break off when placed outside the quotation marks, and it was easier to make only one new die with the character: ." than to make that one and also: ". (to say nothing of situations which might result in "'." or the like). this rationale is, of course, obsolete, but the practice remains.
in all other english-speaking countries, however, the much more rational practice prevails, namely, the period is placed inside the quotes if it was a part of the original quoted material, and outside if it is not. this eliminates confusion in cases such as: quote:
To log in, type in your username and the domain password. The domain password for this week is "rENt^27C@s.."
-- or this one: quote:
Use the syntax "./ezb ezb.conf."
-- or this one: quote:
As his teacher, I felt it was entirely appropriate for me to deduct points from his grade for errors in punctuation, such as his final sentence, which read, "And that is why I believe that Little House on the Prairie is the greatest book ever written." If he had only ended the sentence with a period, the paper would have been perfect.
-- here's one more: quote:
All she could say was "Umm...." I thought to myself silently.
in the final example above, "I thought to myself silently." is intended (heh, heh... there it is again, on the inside makes sense this time ;) ) to be a complete sentence. although you could get this, technically, from the fact that it is not preceded by a comma, it is much more clear if it reads: quote:
All she could say was "Ummm...". I thought to myself silently.
in the post that you were attempting to correct, it is clear that the punctuation is not a part of the quoted material, and therefore (by the british system) is properly placed outside the quotation marks. although it is true that the chicago system differs in this respect, the attempt to correct someone on this point makes it clear that you had no idea that more than one such system even exists; which makes you the one in need of instruction, not the one in a position to give it (and also brings to mind clichés regarding american cultural myopia).
look, my point is that correcting someone's grammar in a public forum is an invitation to disaster. there's always the possibility that someone like me will be lurking about, who has spent an absurdly large number of years studying a subject that is intimately connected to grammar, and then you just look foolish. so give it a rest. try using a little creativity in your flames, rather than resorting to such amateurish tactics.
p.s. :p
__________________
This perceived misuse of Internet resources caused former Dutch education minister Loek Hermans to comment: "It would be nice if the students at Twente University would use their fast connections for information and education purposes, instead of downloading huge amounts of porn."
____________________________________ knowing is the easy part _____________
.
Last edited by lo.pro on 01-15-2003 at 10:27 PM
Report this post to a moderator | IP: Logged
|
01-14-2003 11:35 PM
