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The approach cited by Karen Wiley indeed used to be "THE" standard
taught in school (grammar school on up).
But extremely often in tech-writing, a phrase we're placing within
quotes is some kind of computer command. Usually the comma is NOT a part
of the command itself, and can easily cause confusion if it's included
within the quotes. So I always put the trailing comma outside the
quotation marks. For example:
If you enter the command "GO TO TOP", the program will set your
monitor on fire.
For my own writing (even non-technical), I've decided that I quite like
the approach of putting within the quotation marks only the elements
that are in fact being quoted. So I've adopted that convention in ALL my
writing.
In a quotation that isn't a computer command, if the quotation is a
complete sentence -- and if it ALSO ends the sentence in which the
quotation is being used -- then I put the concluding period inside the
quotation marks.
Like so:
Henry said his new pillow is "very soft".
Henry said, "my new pillow is very soft."
These are my own stylistic choices, and they're not conventions that I
would "enforce" within my group, except for the one about not-enclosing
a comma when quoting a computer command unless the comma is actually
part of the command.
--------
Ernie Tamminga
Director, InfoEngineering
Digital Sound Corporation
-----------------------------------------------
Opinions expressed are my own, and not necessarily those of Digital
Sound Corporation
>-------------
>Original Text
>From: "Wiley, Karen P." on 7/2/97 9:49 AM:
>As I have always understood it, periods and commas go inside the quotation
>marks always; semicolons, colons, and question marks, unless part of the
>actual quotation, go outside.
>
>Karen Wiley
>The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab
>karen_wiley -at- jhuapl -dot- edu
>-----------------------------------------------
From: Bill DuBay [SMTP:bill_dubay -at- PHOENIX -dot- COM]
Sent: Wednesday, July 02, 1997 12:16 PM
I like that!
Bill DuBay
Technical Writer
Phoenix Technologies Ltd.
email: bill_dubay -at- phoenix -dot- com
>
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