Most around here are not too worried about being grammatically or punctually correct. I’m not. Sometimes I proofread and correct; other times, not; not/ dont, whatever.
Your priorities are backwards @insightful. You’re concerned with punctuation but yet apparently willing to give a thieving car dealer a Get Out of Jail Free card…
If the dealer had done this to you I’m sure your priorities would be reversed…
Also, the first suggested semi-colon should have been a period. why are you so hung up on semi-colons? you re obviously a full colon kinda guy.
… And the period should be inside the quotes, not outside of it. If you’re going to correct punctuation, try to get it right yourself.
sorry guys, it was too easy
If I can let “court” go for “quart”, we can certainly forgive a few missing or misplaced commas and semi-colons.
@insightful isn’t the punctuation expert he claims to be. I’m an expert on semi-colons; surgery a few years back left me missing part of my colon, and I have the large scar to prove that I only have a semi colon as opposed to a complete one.
I believe he wanted to use two semi-colons in one sentence, a big no-no. Remember, only use a semi-colon where you could also use a period. And as is noted above quotation marks go after the period, not before.
But let’s not let this punctual discussion on punctuation punctuate the original discussion, lest insightful take us to task once more.
“you re obviously a full colon kinda guy.”
OK, now I get it. It went right past me the first time. Just too dang cold here and my brain is frozen.
@shadofax, I don’t agree with insightful (especially the name), but in this case the period does go outside the quotes. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don’t.
Only if you’re British, @David L. The North American style specifies periods and commas are placed inside quotes, always. Other punctuation (question marks, semi-colons/colons, etc) goes outside the quotes unless it’s part of the quoted material (i.e., ‘He asked “What do you want?”’ vs ‘Did he really say “I hate cars”?’).
The British style system does put periods and commas outside of quotation marks, and is the same as the American system for other punctuation.
Here is what Strunk and White had to say about this. Maybe this will help.
According to my Harbrace Handbook which I lost maybe 20 years ago, the period or comma could go either way depending on whether the quote was part of the sentence or the sentence was part of the quote. But in the world of automotive Q and A, who cares? I do refuse to write telephone numbers as 612.345.6584 though or dates with the day first instead of the month like the British and the Army does. Don’t care what they say.
Did anybody use their turn signals when this thread made a sharp turn into Grammervillle?
“They forgot to charge me tax,” said him. I’m not sure when to use “quotation” marks, I thought to myself. “‘They’ forgot to charge me tax,” he repeated with quotes placed within quotes. “I’m confused as heck, I said, said he”.
It was then that I realized that the subject of this thread had strayed from its original topic and had taken a dark turn into…
“The Twilight Zone,” Rod Serling might have said if he were to be part of this discussion.
Oops. You guys are talking about correct punctuation ? I’m definitely in the wrong place.
it was very insightful for someone to know that we were all dying to debate punctuation,
I was hoping everyone would ignore that troll, denying him the attention he so obviously craves.
^
…and, as was previously asked…Is “Insightful” actually our old friend “Little Mouse”, albeit with a new screen name?
This thread has taken a massive detour . . .
Why don’t we just start a new discussion on grammar and punctuation?
LOL