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FLASHECHOES
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Well that's one opinion, and a British one. There may be a pond differential here. For example, I note that the Brits put periods and question marks outside of quote marks, whereas in America the only punctuation marks that belong outside of quote marks are colons and semi-colons.
I believe for 'normal' dialogue, punctuation is the same in Britain and the USA. (Though, single quote marks seem more prevalent here.)
The differences are however apparent in situations where the narrator or a character is (without the use of tags such as 'she said') quoting someone else. The same applies to the punctuation treatment in the highlighting of cliched phrases or euphamisms.
Examples:
From the American writer John Grisham's 'The Appeal':-
The "Big One," the perfect case with clear liability and a defendent with...
instead of how I would write it:-
The "Big One", the perfect case with...
And
From the UK biographer Claire Tomalin's 'Thomas Hardy - A Time Torn Man':-
'A Countenance' is about an attractive woman whose laugh was not 'in the middle of her mouth quite'.
would be punctuated in the USA as (I think)
"A Countenance" is about an attractive woman whose laugh was not "in the middle of her mouth quite."
"In any case, in talking about the past we lie with every breath we draw."
(from "So Long, See You Tomorrow" by William Maxwell.)
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Carole
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Yes, agreed. (As far as I know) in the UK, single quote marks are used for quotations, with only those particular words enclosed. So, naturally any other punctuation appertaining to the sentence would fall outside. The American version looks a bit peculiar!
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gabriella
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'A Countenance' is about an attractive woman whose laugh was not 'in the middle of her mouth quite'.
would be punctuated in the USA as (I think)
"A Countenance" is about an attractive woman whose laugh was not "in the middle of her mouth quite."
Actually, in the US (and this is the way I was taught all those years ago; today, it may be different), book titles are bolded and underlined, magazine articles, short stories, are in double quotes and depending on the source, sometimes italicized. In this example, "in the middle of her mouth quite" would actually be in single quotes as it is not a direct quote but rather a quoted reference.
Jen
"Those who control their passions do so because their passions are weak enough to be controlled." William Blake
my blog
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pipio
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I prefer the ‘American’ double quotes system because it has some advantages (it’s not really an American thing, just that UK publishers prefer single quotes). This piece of dialogue looks like it has double quotes at the end which may confuse a reader, ‘He’s ‘out on a limb’’ But it’s clearer, IMO, here: “He’s ‘out on a limb’” Although it depends where you put your punctuation mark of course, but that's another discussion.
This post was last edited by pipio, 16 Jan 2010, 14:32
... an honest insult is so much better than an insincere flattery...
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datahog
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Quote: Keel, Saturday, 16 Jan 2010 09:11You're right datahog. In dialogue, question, exclamation marks etc should always be within single or double inverted comas; it’s not ‘an across the pond thing’. Oh, so you Brits are just undereducated as a group then? Pardon my mistake.
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Keel
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Look mush, we is brung up proper and just as edicated as you”; oo d-: yer fink you is)?!’
There’s a juniper tree in my garden, but I have an uncle in Kiev.
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Nestat
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Quote: datahog, Saturday, 16 Jan 2010 22:35Oh, so you Brits are just undereducated as a group then? Pardon my mistake. Well, I don't have the benefit of an American edumacation, but I feel you ought to have noticed Keel's "in dialogue" qualifier.
Writing for yourself is writing for others: "My book could very well end up being reconstituted as a trestle table in a home for battered women." - Alan Partridge
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Ellipsis - to space or not to
16 Jan 2010, 10:45
