Re: Single vs double quotes? (take II)

[Grail <talthane -at- mac -dot- com>]

It's the fact that the brackets aren't contained within a sentence that 
would be objected to, at least in my sort of circle. I was always taught 
that parentheses can't be independent like they are in my example (not 
without some kind of text around them to give meaning). (This sentence 
doesn't need brackets, for example - it may be an 'afterthought' but it 
can survive on its own without the brackets.)

As far as questions of grammar being discussed (or not) on the list 
("ensure or insure...why do niggling grammar threads go on the 
longest?"), for me it's not niggling when it comes down to differences 
of internationalisation. I wouldn't particularly want to write a manual 
for a primarily US-based market knowing I'd be distracting a lot of 
Americans with what looked like wrong punctuation/grammar, disrupting 
their reading rhythm. On the other hand, if I was writing something 
exclusively for Commonwealth countries like the UK, Australia and 
Canada, I wouldn't need to decide about things like color, center, 
defence, aesthetic, and travelling.

It's always good to, like, know stuff. :-)

-Grail.
PS: The "ensure or insure" thing...if anyone's writing a financial 
services manual that could be the key to a major error if not absolutely 
correct throughout....

Hart, Geoff wrote: