William Strunk, Jr., and E. B. White, writing in 1959, noted that “ [t]ypographical usage dictates the comma be inside the marks, though logically it seems not to belong there” (36). In other words, in the predigital era, when fonts were fixed-width, setting a period or comma outside the quotation marks would have created an unsightly gap:
3) Here, the commas after James and lawyer allow the writer to indicate to the reader in passing that James is a corporate lawyer, while at the same time placing the main emphasis on the fact that James led the seminar. 4 After certain kinds of introductory clause. For example, ‘Having finished my work, I left the office.’
Commas are used to show a short pause within a sentence. They should be used with care as a misplaced comma can alter the intended meaning of the sentence. For example: James hit Ian and Edward, then ran away.
The American rules for using commas, periods and question marks are simple; you place them inside of the quotation marks when needed. – Whenever you are applying them for quoted sentences, the proper way to use them would be: He asked me a question and I replied, “I am not sure of the answer.”
Place a question mark or exclamation point within closing quotation marks if the punctuation applies to the quotation itself. Place the punctuation outside the closing quotation marks if the punctuation applies to the whole sentence.
In the United States, the rule of thumb is that commas and periods always go inside the quotation marks, and colons and semicolons (dashes as well) go outside: “There was a storm last night,” Paul said. Peter, however, didn't believe him. “I'm not sure that's exactly what happened.”
According to Cuny School of Law, commas must separate independent clauses whenever they are joined together by coordinating conjunctions, such as and, for, but, or, yet and nor. You should also use commas to separate three or more phrases, clauses or words within a sentence (eg:phrases, clauses or words).
When a comma or period is needed after a quotation, publishers in the United States typically put the punctuation mark before the closing quotation mark. The reason for this convention is to improve the appearance of the text.
The author's last name, the year of publication, and the page number (preceded by a 'p. ') should appear in parenthesis after the quote. If you state the author's name in your sentence, the name must be followed by the year of publication in parenthesis and the quote must be followed by the page number.
To quote a source, you must ensure: The quoted text is enclosed in quotation marks or formatted as a block quote. The original author is correctly cited....Introducing quotesAdd an introductory sentence.Use an introductory signal phrase.Integrate the quote into your own sentence.
Punctuation was traditionally omitted in legal documents and this practise is continued by many Will and Trust drafters. Drafters prefer instead to use underlining or spacing to avoid the ordinary use of commas.
Lawyers should use the Oxford comma to help avoid ambiguity. Three ambiguities may arise without this comma: Whether the two final items in a list are one combined element or separate. Whether one noun phrase modifies the others when there are two or more noun phrases next to each other in a list.
"The court hears arguments, pleas, and requests." Many sources on legal writing say so. In fact, it's difficult to find any source that doesn't say so: "In legal writing, place a comma at the end of each item listed, including the item listed immediately before the and." Mary Barnard Ray & Jill J.
Commas (Eight Basic Uses)Use a comma to separate independent clauses. ... Use a comma after an introductory clause or phrase. ... Use a comma between all items in a series. ... Use commas to set off nonrestrictive clauses. ... Use a comma to set off appositives. ... Use a comma to indicate direct address. ... Use commas to set off direct quotations.More items...
Rule – When you have a question outside quoted material AND inside quoted material, use only one question mark and place it inside the quotation mark. Example: Did she say, “May I go?”
Quotation marks indicate that the elements written within are indirect parts of the complete sentence. The comma usage together with the closing quotation mark depends, again, on the English variant known to the writer, as well as the authorities to which the text will be submitted.
When the quotation is used to present an alternative meaning. Suggesting an alternative meaning is common especially in academic texts, which signals the reader that the terminology is a coined word, a comment, a slang word, a hedge, etc.
A compound sentence is composed of two independent clauses tethered together by any of the following coordinating conjunctions: for, and, nor, but, or, yet, so. In compound sentences, we always need to place a comma before the linking conjunction to mark the independence of each clause.
We can usually find the citation, meaning the source of the quoted information, within parentheses afterward. No comma should be placed before the opening parenthesis, which also means either before or after the closing quotation mark in this case .
American English mainly uses the comma before the closing quotation mark, whereas the comma goes outside or after it in British English. Apparently enough, these punctuation conventions also extend to other countries, such that AmE rules predominate in Canada and BrE in Australia.
Should we put a comma after a quotation? As a general rule, in British English (BrE), the convention is to place the comma after the closing quotation mark, but the comma comes before it in American English (AmE). That said, a comma after a quotation, be it before or after the closing quotation mark, is only necessary when ...
As the research writer may need to add further information about the pseudonym for ethical reasons, a comma also appears after the name. This particular type of parenthetical remark is known as an appositive phrase, which acts as an adjective to a preceding noun or antecedent.
The reason for this convention is to improve the appearance of the text. The convention goes back at least to the nineteenth century.
A comma or period that follows a closing double quotation mark hangs off by itself and creates a gap in the line of text (since the space over the comma or period combines with the following word space). British publishers tend to put the comma or period after the quotation mark. But the British usually use the narrower, ...
But the British usually use the narrower, single quotation mark as the primary quotation mark. There is less of an aesthetic penalty to placing a comma or period after a single quotation mark, since the mark of punctuation isn’t stranded as far from the previous word. It’s true that the convention followed in the United States treats ...
Commas are used to show a short pause within a sentence. They should be used with care as a misplaced comma can alter the intended meaning of the sentence. For example: James hit Ian and Edward, then ran away. James hit Ian, and Edward then ran away.
In this sentence, there is a comma after vans to show that the list contains four separate categories of items – cars, trucks, vans, tractors – and that vans and tractors do not make up a single category.
These are usually words – or combinations of two or three words – inserted by the author to indicate to the reader how the rest of the sentence is to be understood and how it relates to the previous sentence. For example, however, therefore, of course, nevertheless.
Full stops should be used in the following situations: • At the end of all sentences which are not questions or exclamations. The next word should normally begin with a capital letter.
One of the most unusual aspects of old-fashioned contract drafting was the belief among lawyers and judges that punctuation was unimportant. The prevailing view in common law jurisdictions was that the meaning of legal documents should be ascertained from the words of the document and their context rather than from punctuation. Accordingly, old-fashioned legal drafting tends to involve little or no punctuation. This makes it extremely hard to read and potentially highly ambiguous.
8 Between adjectives which each qualify a noun in the same way. For example, ‘a small, dark room’. Here, a comma is placed after small. However, where the adjectives qualify the noun in different ways, or when one adjective qualifies another, no comma is used.
If you’re splitting a quote into two separate parts, you’ll end the first section with a comma inside of the quotes and begin the second section with another comma inside the quotes: “The problem is,” Rachel said, “no one wants to listen to anyone else’s opinion.”.
Quotation marks have several uses in writing. As their name suggests, they’re often used to mark the beginning and end of quotes or dialogue. They can also be used to set off titles of certain works or to indicate slang, mottos, single letters, and translations.
While Americans place periods and commas inside of quotation marks, those in the UK do the opposite. In British English, all punctuation marks go outside of the quotation marks unless the punctuation is a part of the material being quoted.
If you’ve ever been writing a quote and found yourself wondering if that exclamation point should go inside the quotation marks or outside of them, you definitely aren’t alone . Here’s a quick guide to using punctuation with quotation marks like ...
Overall, you can stick to this basic rule: question marks and exclamation points go inside quotation marks if they are a part of the quoted matter. If they punctuate the sentence as a whole, they go outside of the quotation marks.
In American usage, periods and commas typically go inside of quotation marks. When you’re quoting someone’s exact words, introduce the quote with open quotation marks, and end the quote with a period or comma and closing quotation marks. The teacher said, “Your essay is due on Monday.”. “I am so tired,” Mom said as she sat down on the couch.
Colons, dashes, and semicolons almost always go outside of quotation marks. The only exception is if the colon, semicolon, or dash is a part of the sentence you are quoting.
Use commas to separate independent clauses when they are joined by coordinating conjunctions: and, but, for, or, nor, yet. Example: Tuparo began his new job, and Burstyn made changes to the personnel policy. ( Note that this could have been expressed in two sentences: Tuparo began his new job.
Quotation marks are required whenever you are giving the exact words spoken or written by another person. In American English, double quotation marks are used for indicating quotations. Single quotation marks indicate a quote within a quote: Prof. McArdle said, “The briefs will be due on Tuesday.”.
Punctuation is one component of writing that people seldom think about or notice — except when it is wrong. At their worst, misused punctuation marks — commas, semicolons, quotation marks, and the rest — may muddle the meaning of your sentences, leaving your reader confused and frustrated. Even less egregious errors — say, a missing ...
However, some writers use an apostrophe alone when the noun is long and contains multiple s sounds. This is not incorrect: Officer Gonzales’ gun was stolen. When forming the possessive of plural nouns, you should add only an apostrophe if the noun ends in s: The students’ grades were posted on the board.
This holds true whether the citation is a long or short form. If a cite is given in the middle of a sentence, it must be set off by commas.
In British English, periods and commas can go inside or outside. Interestingly enough, some say that they (British English) are more apt to follow logic.
Others, although they may be a bit more confusing, can also be figured out with some patience. However, when it comes to punctuation quotes and whether or not they go inside or outside of quotation marks, the answer is harder.
The American rules for using commas, periods and question marks are simple; you place them inside of the quotation marks when needed. – Whenever you are applying them for quoted sentences, the proper way to use them would be: He asked me a question and I replied, “I am not sure of the answer.”.