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From: "John Dean" <john-dean@frag.lineone.net>
Newsgroups: alt.languages.english
Subject: Re: Quotes and punctuation
Date: Thu, 6 Jan 2005 00:23:25 +0100
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Chris Croughton wrote:
> 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.
It's a topic revisited regularly on the English usage groups.
Merriam Webster's usage guide is clear for USA use:
http://www.mae.ucsd.edu/mw/Mwed00000125.html
<< The period and the comma fall within the quotation marks.
"I am leaving," she said.
It was unclear how she maintained such an estate on "a small annuity."
>>
Unfortunately I can't access the aue faq at the moment to see what
authorities are quoted for the British usage.
>
>> 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..."
I wasn't actually asking you. I was asking the OP precisely because of
the two possibilities ie that there is a default password and that the
password is actually the word "default". Unless you know something that
wasn't contained in the post?
--
John Dean
Oxford
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