Re: Quoting styles (was Re: Antipassive?)

On Fri, 23 May 2008 16:07:43 +1000, Tristan McLeay <conlang@...>
wrote:
[on punctuation-inside-quotes]
>I gather it has its origins in old fashioned movable type. The quote
>characters were apparently fragile, or something, and inclined to break
>if put on the wrong side of the quotation mark. I don't quite understand
>how this could be the case, so I assume my explanation is wrong.
I've heard this explanation except that it was the period or comma (the
marks to which the rule traditionally applies, AIUI) which were supposed to
be fragile, understandably so since they're the smallest characters, and
thus putting them between the quotes and whatever preceded these would
protect them.

I've also heard the convention defended on the grounds that it looks better:
placing a period or comma after quotation marks would leave an unsightly
blank region, so it goes.

In any case, I too use the "logical" convention, punctuation outside unless
it's part of the text inside.

Alex

Reply