June 15, 2008

The Use of American English Quotation Marks Vis-a-Vis Punctuation, Namely Commas and Periods

Or, Skip All Of This If You're Not A Grammar Nerd.

For about a month now, I've been bothered by American English's approach to quotation punctuation: that is, the practice of placing commas and periods inside a quotation mark as opposed to the outside. I even wrote a draft about it a few weeks ago, which I never got around to publishing¹.

So it strikes me as crazy that, by complete coincidence, Joshua Bryant published his own thoughts today on the issue:

Let's have us an example. Take this sentence I just wrote:

Like, for instance, the word "definitely."

Now, in my head, that's correct punctuation. I should admit that I had to retake English 2 times in University, so there's a high chance I'm wrong, but at least its what I've been taught. But it makes no sense to me. To me, it should look like this:

Like, for instance, the word "definitely".

Apparently, that's not correct. But it feels right in my head.

First of all, you probably don't know how happy I am to not be alone.

Secondly, I don't recall I've ever agreed more passionately with someone on something as miniscule as grammar. It feels crude and strange to me too, and here's why:

When used for "air quotes" purposes, it implies that the comma/period is part of the phrase in the quotes. And almost 100 percent of the time, it's not; if I have a friend named "Nigel" and someone quotes the name as "Nigel," they're technically spelling the name incorrectly.
When used for quotation purposes, the problem is even worse. The idea behind a quotation is that you get a verbatim copy of a particular piece of text. By putting marks on the inside that weren't originally written or spoken, you are, to a certain extent, invalidating the purpose of a quotation. Thus, the practice is only acceptable if you're quoting the end of a sentence.
The rule doesn't apply to semicolons or colons, nor is it a universal English mechanic.

I also recommend this Wikipedia article on the differences in usage.

Which brings me to my next point: "American English" (the inside way) and "British English" (the outside way) have different solutions to this. In contrast to American English, the British variant places periods and commas outside of the quotation marks, so sentences look like this instead:

Your friend's name is "Nigel", yes? I'll have to meet him sometime.

Compared to the American way again:

Your friend's name is "Nigel," yes? I'll have to meet him sometime.

Please, someone-- explain to me why this weird, crude practice exists. I'd love to know, especially if it could make me stop breaking out in weird grammar fits.

Would you publish a lengthy rant about proper punctuation mark usage?
Just to be clear, I am not the most consistent grammar fiend; I'm sure you could pick out examples of this in my earlier articles. So, it's even stranger that this particular issue bothers me so deeply.