Word Play: putting quotation marks and punctuation in their place
Word Play is a series for the grammar police, former English majors, word nerds, pedants, and people who are curious about the evolution of language, grammar, standardization, style, and prose. Be warned: this series will get very political. Red ink may bleed.
Haven’t you learned by now that nothing is absolutely right or wrong? That grammar and practices is all relative? Except double spaces after a period, that’s just stupid.
Today, we’re putting to rest constant internet wars about the “correct way” to use punctation and quotation marks. Are they placed inside or outside of punctuation? It honestly depends on where you live. The differences between British and American English are just different enough to create passionate fire between Grammar fascists.
In Britain, the rules are at the will of a writer to determine whether the period or comma belongs with the quotation marks or with the greater sentence. American English does not allow for freedoms such as this. In most style guides in the US, periods and commas go inside the closing quotation mark for periods and commas.
“Grammar is a fickle beast.”
“Oxford Commas are the worst,” said someone drinking the haterade.
However, it does not apply for all punctuation. Semicolons, colons, asterisks, and dashes have quotation marks outside the closing quotation mark.
“This doesn’t make any sense”; clearly, she didn’t understand.
“The rules of a colon”: place colons outside the closing quotation mark.
“Please explain this to me.”
“Who came up with this?”—it is so strange.
I’d also be remiss to not to include question marks and exclamation points, which have a very specific need-based rule placed upon them. And the rules apply for both American English and British English! If the whole sentence is structured as a question and not just what is quoted, question marks and exclamation points go outside of the closing quotation mark.
Did you know that this is one of the most overlooked “rules”?
If the entire quote is question or exclamation, then question marks and exclamation points stay inside the closing quotation mark.
“Why are you questioning this rule, Americans?”
It is indeed strange. Welcome to American English and grammar. Most of the American publications you read will abide by these rules. But remember that Americans’ older, more polite British cousins and their publications have a different set of rules. Ones that make more sense to Slate’s Ben Yagoda, who argues that British English is more logical than American English’s aesthetic grammar. He also comes to the same conclusion of this blog: people are too patriotic to their grammar style of choice.
If not for nothing, the next time you use air quotes, consider whether or not you want to use American or British English Grammar Standards.
Grammar Myths Debunked
By Emily E. Steck
Here are several grammar myths and don'ts, debunked.
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Myth: Quotation Marks & Punctuation
By Emily E. Steck
It all depends on using American or British English. In American English, punctuation remains inside closing quotation marks, but not always. In British English, punctuation is outside the marks.
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Myth: “i.e.” and “e.g.” Mean the Same Thing
By Emily E. Steck
i.e.= in other words. e.g.= for example. I.e. is used to offer a finite list of things whereas e.g. is more open-ended and offers a possibility.
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Myth: Use 'A' Before Consonant, "An" Before Vowel
By Emily E. Steck
Not necessarily. You use a before consonant sounds. You use "an" before vowel sounds. For instance, you use "an" before "hour" or "MBA" because their first syllables sound like vowels.
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Myth: Never Split Infinitives
By Emily E. Steck
An infinitive is a two-word form of a verb. Something like "to do" or "to tell." You may split the infinitives by adding another word to separate the duo, like "to happily do" or "to boldly tell."
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Myth: But and And Cannot Begin a Sentence
By Emily E. Steck
But of course they can! There is actually no historically foundation for this rule; it has been used as a stylistic modern rule.
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Myth: Sentences Cannot End with Prepositions
By Emily E. Steck
Sometimes, prepositions need to end a sentence. "What did you step on?" Or "Cheer up" or "I want to know where it's from." All are perfectly acceptable.
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Myth: Always Use 2 Spaces After a Period
By Emily E. Steck
False. This only worked for monospaced type in which every character takes up the same space. In the age of proportionally typed fonts, using two spaces after a period hurts readability.
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Myth: Keyboards Are Holdovers from the Modern Era
By Emily E. Steck
The QWERTY keyboard was not used to slow typists down because of mechanical errors. The earliest typewriters and telegraph operators found alphabetical layouts confusing to translate Morse Code.
Image: Marie Maerz/Shutterstock