Charon

[Xargos]

Where did you learn to write so well?  I really enjoy reading your posts and have wondered, have you ever written any books or published articles?

[Charon]

Thanks Xargos.

I've earned a living writing for about 15 years now, not even counting a lot of writing course work covering advertising/journalism/marketing/technical and public relations to fiction and even a produced, acted and filmed soap opera in college. In PR and trade media I have probably written over a million words easily and perhaps 400 to 500 articles. The audience has tended to be fairly sophisticated and the subject matter analytical and I tend to write here in the same style and fashion as I do for my job.

Frankly, because of that I probably come off a lot different on these boards than I do in real life, especially since we discuss things I geek out on or study for a living but can't really find an outlet to discuss elsewhere I let the genie out of the bottle at a party not long ago and discussed oil markets with friends I had been socializing with for several years and kind of freaked them out.

Charon

[EskimoJoe]

Thanks Xargos.

I've earned a living writing for about 15 years now, not even counting a lot of college writing course work covering advertising/journalism/marketing/technical and public relations to fiction and even a produced, acted and filmed soap opera in college. In PR and trade media I have probably written over a million words easily and perhaps 400 to 500 articles. The audience has tended to be fairly sophisticated and the subject matter analytical and I tend to write here in the same style and fashion as I do for my job.

Frankly, because of that I probably come off a lot different on these boards than I do in real life, especially since we discuss things I geek out on or study for a living but can't really find an outlet to discuss elsewhere I let the genie out of the bottle at a party not long ago and discussed oil markets with friends I had been socializing with for several years and kind of freaked them out.

Charon

I need help. Where do I put my punctuation marks when using quotation marks? 

[C(Sea)Bass]

I need help. Where do I put my punctuation marks when using quotation marks? 

I'm not much of a writer or anything, but I was taught to put the punctuation after the last quotation mark, unless the punctuation is part of the original quote.

For example, if I were to qoute your post I would do this, "...when using quotation marks?". But if I were to quote myself, which is always fun to do, I would do this "I'm not much of a writer".

Hopefully the people who know better than I do can better answer your question.

[EskimoJoe]

I'm not much of a writer or anything, but I was taught to put the punctuation after the last quotation mark, unless the punctuation is part of the original quote.

For example, if I were to qoute your post I would do this, "...when using quotation marks?". But if I were to quote myself, which is always fun to do, I would do this "I'm not much of a writer".

Hopefully the people who know better than I do can better answer your question.

Eskimo said, "Well, thank you for your time".

The comma after the word "said", I don't think it belongs there. Feels like a comma splice to me.

[Charon]

I need help. Where do I put my punctuation marks when using quotation marks?

As a general rule (related to issues with printing presses and lead type) you put them inside the quotes. Again, this is related to a physical printing process that is now obsolete, but the style has not changed just yet. There are some nuances, but I'm too tired to think of them now. Punctuation isn't my strongest suit, though I'm usually passable. And I would be totally lost without spell check.

A lot of our language usage really isn't set in stone (though you can get into some geeky religious-style arguments over various "hot button" issues) A linguistics instructor I once had showed just how variable usage has been over the decades in such areas. I have followed the AP Style manual which provides one widely accepted version of word usage, capitalization, punctuation -- etc. Now, what is acceptable journalistic style and what an English teacher might demand can be two different things, with neither being right or wrong.

Charon

[EskimoJoe]

As a general rule (related to issues with printing presses and lead type) you put them inside the quotes. Again, this is related to a physical printing process that is now obsolete, but the style has not changed just yet. There are some nuances, but I'm too tired to think of them now. Punctuation isn't my strongest suit, though I'm usually passable. And I would be totally lost without spell check.

A lot of our language usage really isn't set in stone (though you can get into some geeky religious-style arguments over various "hot button" issues) A linguistics instructor I once had showed just how variable usage has been over the decades in such areas. I have followed the AP Style manual which provides one widely accepted version of word usage, capitalization, punctuation -- etc. Now, what is acceptable journalistic style and what an English teacher might demand can be two different things, with neither being right or wrong.

Charon

Thank you, I really appreciate it.

[Rolex]

I believe punctuating outside the final quote is preferable in British/Global English.

[Holden McGroin]

A lot of our language usage really isn't set in stone (though you can get into some geeky religious-style arguments over various "hot button" issues)

Like using quotation marks when there is no one to quote.

[Charon]

Like using quotation marks when there is no one to quote.

Entirely acceptable on first reference when you wish to add emphasis. More so when it's an odd or emerging reference. AP has guidelines. I probably do that more than I should and usually cut a few out when they add up. In fact, I get really sloppy in draft mode and usually have to clean a lot of stuff up in rewrite. Even here I'll reedit my posts a number of times for grammar and punctuation and style out of force of habit. I usually throw in a comma every time my mind stops then I have to go back and clean it up. Of course, in the late 1800s that would have been entirely correct

Charon

[lazs2]

I think you are a good writer too charon.. Like the style..

lazs

[moot]

I believe punctuating outside the final quote is preferable in British/Global English.

That's always seemed very wrong to me, all the way back to early school.  If you are quoting someone, you're putting what he says in quotes.  What he says follows the rules of grammar, so the period at the end of his/her sentences must be inside the quotes.
If the quoted text is at the end of one of the quoter's (as opposed to quotee's) sentences, you might get (following the rationale I mention above) a double period, one before, and one after the end-quote.  But that's aberrant and so we'd just remove the least important of the two, the one after the end-quote.
That's my revenge on extremely anal grammar teachers anyway

[Holden McGroin]

As a general rule (related to issues with printing presses and lead type) you put them inside the quotes. Again, this is related to a physical printing process that is now obsolete, but the style has not changed just yet. There are some nuances, but I'm too tired to think of them now. Punctuation isn't my strongest suit, though I'm usually passable.

Commas, Turning Up, Everywhere
April 25, 2008 | Issue 44•17 Onion
 
WASHINGTON—In the midst of a crisis that may have reached a breaking, point Tuesday afternoon, linguists, and grammarians, everywhere say they are baffled, by the sudden and seemingly random, appearance of commas, in our nation's sentences. The epidemic of errant punctuation has spread, like wildfire, since signs of the epidemic first, appeared in a Washington Post article, on Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben, Bernanke. "This, is an unsettling trend," columnist William Sa,fire, told reporters. "We're seeing a collapse of the grammatical rules that have, held, the English language, together for, centuries." Experts warn, that if this same, phenomenon, should occur with ellipses…

[C(Sea)Bass]

...


 

[Shuffler]

Charon, I, enjoy, reading, your, posts, too. My, mind, stops, alot, and, I, am, trying, to, pick, up, your, methodology.

So, now, I,  ,        ,                  ,                          , umm, was, I, through, yet?