While on a cab, Lead Character and his friends engaged in an argument regarding proper punctuation when quotation marks are involved. The argument was inspired by an email trail started by Lead Character's Canada-based friend DropDeadGorgeous, who inquired about the particular subject matter. Lead Character and his friends never did find closure for their argument, because his friends didn't believe him when he said that periods are always inside quotation marks, even with a novel to back him up. Now armed with references, Lead Character would like to impart the following facts:
Commas and periods are always inside quotation marks, no matter how logic dictates it.
"Dirty Sexy Money," "Fringe," "True Blood," and "Gossip Girl" are a few of the TV shows that Lead Character enjoys watching these days.
"I regret always coming in late for my Stat 102 classes," Lead Character said.
Lead Character is currently training himself to be "vegetarian."
Question marks and exclamation points are placed as per logic.
Is Lead Character serious about his ambition to turn "vegetarian"?
It can't be! He's a frickin' "carnivore"!
Please note that these rules are American English. If you want to write the British-English way, that's your problem.
References:
"Elements of Style," by William Strunk and E.B. White
http://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/quotes.asp
http://www.whitesmoke.com/punctuation-quotation-marks-titles-conventions.html
alright lead character. you win. heheheh.
ReplyDeletei always put punctuations inside quotation marks and parentheses. didn't eb white and strunk discuss that?=)
ReplyDeletelove me some strunk and white..
ReplyDeletesuzy--> yep, very helpful strunk and white they are.
ReplyDeletechrstbll--> yep, they did discuss it. which reminds me... i still have your copy. hehehe.
jabbered onion--> i didn't necessarily win. i win the american english way. but the brits accept ur way. ;-)