On Wed, 5 Jan 2005 17:54:38 +0100, John Dean
<john-dean@frag.lineone.net> wrote:
> Anders Christensen wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> Which is the most correct sentence?
>> 1) CF means "Compact Flash". It stores data.
>> 2) CF means "Compact Flash." It stores data.
>
> The first is British punctuation, the second American. We say "more
> correct" rather than "most" when there are only two choices. You could
> write in either style :
> 3) CF means "Compact Flash": it stores data.
> or 4) CF means "Compact Flash" and it stores data.
Where do you derive British and American differences? I was taught to
put the punctuation inside the quotes at school over 30 years ago (in
Essex, England), and I've always seen it that way in both UK and US
published books, with the exception of computing technical books where
it can contribute to errors. However, this may have changed recently,
my 1998 edition of Fowler's "Modern English Usage" says that punctuation
should be placed according to meaning, not by a rule putting them always
inside or outside the quotation marks. The 1968 edition says that the
'conventional' practice of putting the stops inside the quotation marks
is the commonly accepted one.
>> And which of these?
>> 1) When using the password "default", you have no privacy.
>> 2) When using the password "default," you have no privacy.
>>
> 1 = Brit, 2 = USAn.
As above.
> Are you sure the quotes are required around 'default'?
Yes, if the password is the literal word "default". They would not be
correct if the word were being used as an adjective, as in "When using
the default password..." If the quotes are omitted in the first example
above the word "password" becomes the adjective ("password default" as
compared to "username default" or "system default", for example), which
completely alters the meaning.
(Whether singe or double quotes are used does seem to be a US/UK
difference. As I complained in my previous post to this group, the
British usage seems to have changed since I was at school...)
Chris C (Aylesbury, England)
|
|