More fuss over punk-U-way-shun.

Kim:

Hey folks--it's only bandwidth ... (wiry grin)

With deep respect, I have to disagree - - sort of ...

>
> <snip>
> >As for your boss, he was "generally right."
> >
> >Now - did I put the period in the right spot in the above sentence.....?
:-)
> >
> >- Jeff Kopito
> </snip>
>
> Jeff...yeah you did, but thinking it was a trick question (grin) and not
> being 100% sure, I went looking on the web and found a couple of
> interesting sites.
>
>>>>> SNIP <<<<

Admittedly, my 70 year old memory is not what it once was and my novels may
be, (probably are), full of boo-boo's.

But my understanding of this period and quotes business is thus:

1. If the quote is only a part of the sentence, then the quote is inside,
(before) the period.

EX: Jane Doe said, "Hi there".
(The quote was part of the sentence and the period is placed at the END of
the sentence.

2. If the whole sentence is a quote, then the period is part of the quote
and goes inside, (before), the quote>

EX: Jane Doe spoke. "Hi there, everybody." Here the whole sentence,
including the period, is a quote.

3. It gets a little fuzzy when a quote within a sentence actually completes
a thought on it's own and sounds like a complete sentence. I wish you could
have heard the fuss between a proof reader from Total Printing and an
English Instructor from our community college this morning as they read
Kim's e-mail. It was strongly argued by one of them at least, that there
should be TWO periods.

EX: Jane Doe said, "My name is Jane.".

Actually I personally think both Basic and JavaScript are "easier" than
English.

I grew up with a "Style Guide" from United Press International and freely
admit, some of their "absolutes" are now considered bad form. Example: They
always insisted one report a Quote as:
"Speaking as a politician, this is my big long quotation." Said Senator
Foghorn.

The accepted method in both radio and TV in these more "modern?" times at
least sounds better.

Senator Foghorn had this to say. "Speaking as a politician, this is my big
long quotation."

This is the method I now use and the minuscule minority of those who have
read my novels agree that it makes it easier to read. Of course, it may be,
they are just being polite.

Best wishes
Ted Temer
Temercraft Designs Redding, CA
temer(at)c-zone.net
www.temercraft.com/
www.newsredding.com/

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