Timeline for How to quote material that ends sections with semicolons
Current License: CC BY-SA 4.0
15 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jun 19, 2021 at 15:26 | comment | added | Lambie | @EdwinAshworth Really, Edwin, surely you mean obligatorily or compulsorily? [caveat for the unwoke: that's a joke] | |
| Jun 19, 2021 at 15:16 | comment | added | Edwin Ashworth | ... Yes. This question is probably off-topic here as it deals with (or asks for help in dealing with) English that is mandatorily non-standard. | |
| Jun 19, 2021 at 15:09 | comment | added | Lambie | In standard English (even half-baked formal writing), you will not find a "section" ending in a semicolon. That's just plain crazy. | |
| May 20, 2021 at 13:59 | comment | added | Peter Shor | @LPH: the prescription is that if dropping the punctuation changes the meaning of the quote, you should not drop it. This is generally the case with question marks and exclamation marks. This is emphatically not the case with the OP's quote. | |
| May 20, 2021 at 13:54 | comment | added | LPH | @PeterShor As I told you, it seems to be never the case that punctuation at the end of a quote be retained (although retaining an exclamation point or a question mark does make sense, that seems evident enough), so there is probably no prescription and the instances must be rare, but I don't believe that a precedent is needed in order to license that sort of practice: the punctuation can simply be considered part of the quote. Although this is not often the type of quote used, wouldn't it be more appropriate while quoting an exclamation, to join the exclamation point that goes with it? | |
| May 20, 2021 at 13:30 | comment | added | Peter Shor | @LPH: I agree that the.British system is more logical, and I think that American publishers should start using it. What I am objecting to in your answer (and why I downvoted it) is that what you are describing is not the British system. The British system, as I understand it, would drop the semicolon and put the period outside the quote. If you have any actual evidence that this isn't what the British system would do (aside from a link to an American who doesn't understand the British system describing how they think it works) you should add it to your answer. | |
| May 20, 2021 at 13:21 | comment | added | LPH | @PeterShor I might add that John Lawler, an American and grammarian, as you probably know, considers himself that the American system is not logical. There is at least one comment by himself on this site that explicitly state this point of view of his. | |
| May 20, 2021 at 13:14 | comment | added | LPH | @PeterShor I don't believe that this is exact; there have been people on this site talking of this system as something extant and quite natural to them (for instance, in this very post, the first comment by user Davo shows that) and I have read several references that showed clearly the existence of two different ways to treat that question, one from American origin, the other British. | |
| May 20, 2021 at 13:05 | comment | added | Peter Shor | @LPH: The "traditional system", which was used in the 19th century in the U.K., is the same as the American system. The system you are describing has only existed in the imagination of misguided Americans trying to describe what their counterparts across the pond actually do. | |
| May 20, 2021 at 13:03 | comment | added | LPH | @PeterShor I am aware of that too; there is a traditional system, which is still dominant (I think), and that is the one I refer to by "the British way". However, I know that that system has been displaced by American English which has made more or less recently several inroads into British English. For instance, the reference I used does make clear that there exists something genuinely British, showing as well that this traditional practice still prevails. | |
| May 20, 2021 at 12:57 | comment | added | Peter Shor | @LPH: Your link goes to an American describing the British system, and what they are describing is a system that very few, if any, British publishers actually use. Your words "if you adhere to the British way" sound like everybody in the U.K. uses the system you're advocating. This is wrong ... take a look at The Guardian. The Guardian sometimes puts commas and periods inside the quotes. (I think when there was a pause there in the original.) Calling her rules "the British way" is misleading. | |
| May 20, 2021 at 8:44 | comment | added | LPH | @PeterShor I am not saying that punctuation such as at the end in '[…] with a semicolon;" ' is common in BrE; in fact I believe it is not so as I can't recall punctuation at the end of quotes. What I am saying is that if you want, for some reason, to include this ending punctuation (perhaps to insist on the quote being a fragment although I can hardly see a need for that), the best way and even the only correct way to do it would be as shown. | |
| May 20, 2021 at 3:05 | comment | added | Peter Shor | I have never seen a sentence in a British book that contain the punctuation ;". or anything remotely similar — I don't believe you are correct about what the "British system" prescribes in this case. | |
| May 19, 2021 at 21:42 | comment | added | Pen_Guin | Thank you! I'm using American practices but it's good to know the British way to deal with this issue, it definitely makes more sense. | |
| May 19, 2021 at 20:55 | history | answered | LPH | CC BY-SA 4.0 |