Placement Of Full Stops And Quotation Marks.

Discussion in 'Writers Forum' started by Gangster Guru, Jun 30, 2017.

  1. Ged

    Ged Tits and Thigh Man.

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    It is common practice in the UK to place full stops outside the quotation mark thus: ".

    However the North American method is to place them inside like this: ."

    Which do you find more aesthetically pleasing?

    I like the American method.
     
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  2. Pete's Draggin'

    Pete's Draggin' Visitor

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3DpTs-iV7U
     
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  3. Ged

    Ged Tits and Thigh Man.

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    Lol
     
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  4. BlackBillBlake

    BlackBillBlake resigned HipForums Supporter

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    Long time ago, but when I went to school in the UK, we were taught that quotation marks go inside the inverted commas.
     
  5. Ged

    Ged Tits and Thigh Man.

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    I looked this up recently. Says they go outside in UK. I guess the internet is fallible though. I will dig deeper.
     
  6. BlackBillBlake

    BlackBillBlake resigned HipForums Supporter

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    Maybe they've changed it since the 1960's - I'm certain though that's how grammar school boys were taught back then. And to me it does seem to make sense.
     
  7. BlackBillBlake

    BlackBillBlake resigned HipForums Supporter

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    I just randomly picked out a couple of English novels - the full stops and other punctuation marks are all within the inverted commas.

    On a side note, James Joyce apparently had a thing against inverted commas, calling them 'perverted commas.' He used a dash - instead.
     
  8. morrow

    morrow Visitor

    I was told the full stop shows your finished.
     
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  9. Ged

    Ged Tits and Thigh Man.

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    I also randomly picked up a couple of novels, one of which was Graham Greene's "The Human Factor." The stops were inside. I will be using this method from now on. It's just that I had been confused as to the right method and looked it up. I think you're right though.
     
  10. Meliai

    Meliai Banned

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    Inside the quotation mark for sure. Any other way is blasphemous
     
  11. NoxiousGas

    NoxiousGas Old Fart

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    it depends on the context.
    if citing a full quote that ends in a complete sentence, than the quotation marks go after the period; Joe said "blah blah blah."
    BUT if it is a partial quote and not ending in a full sentence than the convention is to use three trailing periods and then the quotation marks; Joe said "blah blah blah and..."
    if the quote ends the sentence than a period would go after the quotation marks; Joe said "blah blah blah and eat me!".
    if the quote is part of a complete sentence than there is no point putting a period after it, is there?
     
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  12. jpdonleavy

    jpdonleavy Members

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    When I'm in the UK and hear people say "in inverted commas" (which sounds like "ininverted commas') and then make the little bunny ears motions with their two fingers of each hand in the air, I think how much easier it would be they just said 'n quotes'. However, as long as they don't see the idiocy of these long-winded preciosities, people frm the developed countries - while they're still speaking and gesticulating, can solve such UK problems, such as how to manufacture appliances with plugs already bonded onto power cords. In the UK up until the 90s they had no technology for that. You would open a stereo on a Saturday night and see three bare wires sticking out of the cable and a note saying "see your electrical socket'

    Meanwhile, even in Upper Volta, appliances came with plugs attached. The Brits had no science for that. It was one of the early signs that the country wouldn't make it in the modern world.
     
  13. jpdonleavy

    jpdonleavy Members

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    tremendous author - there's our authority right there (or rght thur, in Ulster)
     

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