Quotation Marks Pairing with Other Punctuation. Duhh.

There seems to be another confusing trend afoot. Don't worry. I'm not going to nag you about their using italics for internal thought. I gave you the whys and wherefores in The Frugal Editor-- http://budurl.com/TheFrugalEditor -- and mentioned it several times since then. Enough is enough already!

 

This is a punctuation fiasco that aims at taking one of America's simplest punctuation rules (style choices) and making pudding of them. You're sure to see folks putting a period or a comma after a closing quotation mark if you haven't seen it already.

 

June Casagrande, author of Grammar Snobs Are Great Big Meanies ( http://budurl.com/grammarsnobs ) urges you not to be taken in by it.  I think the trend may be picking up steam with more and more people reading books published in the UK or by UK authors. We, unfortunately, think that what they do has to be more correct--or classier--than what we do. After all, they do have a few hundred years on us in terms of the European aspect of our culture.

 

But our most prestigious publishers have for years followed the general guideline of putting your punctuation (except for colons and semicolons) inside the closing quotation marks. Let's band together and foil the grammar conspirators (or snobs!).

 

What is right for the English may only be ostentatious for Americans. Our punctuation is supposed to be a reading aid, not stick out like a hammered thumb.

 

 

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson edits, consults. and speaks on issues of publishing. Find her The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success (How To Do It Frugally series of book for writers). Learn more about her other authors' aids at www.howtodoitfrugally.com/writers_books.htm , where writers will find lists and other helps including Great Little Last-Minute Editing Tips on the Resources for Writers page. She blogs on all things publishing (not just editing!) at her Sharing with Writers blog. She tweets writers' resources at www.twitter.com/frugalbookpromo .

Punctuating Close Quotes in Four Easy Steps: Part IV

Today guest blogger Boyd Sutton is finishing up his series on punctuating with close quotes. The topic is "Closing Quotes with Question Marks and Exclamation Points." I like that he has obviously read my The Frugal Editor. (-: " If you didn't catch the first three installment, just scroll down.

By Boyd Sutton

Punctuating Close Quotes with Question Marks and Exclamation Points


How you punctuate your question marks and exclamation points depends on context. Both of these marks are inserted before the close quotation mark if they are part of the quotation (that is, if the quotation is a question or an exclamatory statement), but after the close quotation mark if the entire sentence is a question or exclamatory statement.

Wrong: He asked, “Why wait until tomorrow”?

Right: He asked, “Why wait until tomorrow?”

Wrong: She wailed, “Not again”!

Right: She wailed, Not again!”

But, when a statement inside quotes is only part of the sentence and the entire sentence is a question or exclamation, the marks come after the close quote—even if the quote itself might be a question or exclamation.

Wrong: Did she really say, “Can you ever forgive me?”

Right: Did she really say, “Can you ever forgive me”?

Wrong: How dare you call me “strumpet!”

Right: How dare you call me “strumpet”!


Summary

1.Commas and periods always come before close quotes. Always!

2. Colons and semicolons always come after close quotes. Always!

3/ Question Marks and exclamation points may come before of after close quotes, depending on context.

There are many, more esoteric, rules for punctuation. I’ll discuss those in future editions of this blog or in the print edition of the Wisconsin Writers Journal. The basics in the last couple of blogs on The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor blog are important and easy to remember and account for at least half of the errors I see in submissions. As an editor, I’m “easy”; I just fix them. But, get them wrong in a query letter, a book proposal, or a submission to a newspaper or magazine and you give an editor or agent an easy excuse to reject your manuscript. I think that's why Carolyn keeps talking about using zero tolerance editing before you these documents; they are your first contacts with the gatekeepers who can make or break your career.

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Boyd Sutton is producer and editor of the Wisconsin Writers’ Journal, a quarterly publication of the Wisconsin Regional Writers Association . His articles, essays, and short stories have appeared in newspapers and magazines. He is a freelance editor and has won many writing awards, including the Jade Ring, Wisconsin’s most prestigious writing award, for his essay, “Owning Your Own Time—Managing Your Retirement.” He may be reached at journal@wrwa.net. This article first appeared in the 2008 winter edition of the Wisconsin Writers’ Journal.

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Carolyn Howard-Johnson edits, consults and speaks on issues of publishing. Find her The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success at http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0978515870. Learn more about her other authors' aids at www.howtodoitfrugally.com, where writers will find lists and other helps on the Resources for Writers page. She blogs on all things publishing (not just editing!) at her Sharing with Writers blog.

Yikes! To Question Mark or Not to Question Mark, That Is the Question

Question:

Jozette Aaron
says, "I am going to purchase your book My book is too far away from the presses to announce it as yet...and I may change the title.

I have a question. I was given some editing advice that I do not agree with. I was told that when a question appears between quotation marks, the question mark should not be used that a comma is used in its place. e.g "How did that happen,"

This doesn't look right to me so I thought I'd ask my guru. I was given this advice by the person I was considering when self publishing.

Thanks for your help.

Answer:

Jozette. I picked this tip up from Stephen King's On Writing as I was writing my book, The Frugal Editor. The rule is that if you use "he asked" as a dialogue tag after you put a question in quotation marks, you don't need the question mark because it would be redundant. Like showing your reader twice that it is a question.

If you use the question mark at the end of your question, simply use "he said" for your dialogue tag. Or if understanding supports no use of a tag at all, then you'd use only the question mark.

So here are the choices:

"How did that happen," he asked.
Or "How did that happen?"
Or "How did that happen?" he said.

Good for you for asking. We never stop learning more about writing and the more we know, the more the learning horizon seems to expand. (-:
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Carolyn Howard-Johnson edits and consults on issues of publishing. Find her The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success on Amazon. Learn more about her other authors' aids at www.howtodoitfrugally.com.