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It jjust occcured to me, I think the single quote is mostly reserved for when one chops off part of a word, or creates a contraction - as well as the quote within a quote deal.

What if you're already in the middle of double quotes and decide you want to use another double set...probably would use the single quotes at that point. Same thing probably goes with nesting ( ), { }, and [ ].

Kurt in S.A.

raypond wrote:And just as a matter of interest - James Joyce called quotation marks "perverted commas".

This from the man that wrote "Ulysses"

DaveBBR wrote:

raypond wrote:And just as a matter of interest - James Joyce called quotation marks "perverted commas".

This from the man that wrote "Ulysses"

Hell, that's mild easy reading. Try Finnegans Wake.

While we're talking punctuation (forget circlips and motorbikes for the moment) I've always wondered if Finnegans Wake should have an exclamation mark or an apostrophe. And if it's an apostrophe did we just miss the funeral or are we talking about what follows him?

raypond wrote:While we're talking punctuation (forget circlips and motorbikes for the moment) I've always wondered if Finnegans Wake should have an exclamation mark or an apostrophe. And if it's an apostrophe did we just miss the funeral or are we talking about what follows him?

Or, perhaps with an exclamation mark, what indeed woke the Finnegans up - and/or what did they find once roused?

Incidentally, can one start a sentence properly with "AND?"
Someone, check the books.

I have used the following type of sentence in formal papers before:

"...the observed abrasions were course in nature..."

I wish I'd known in those days using the word "course" in formal writings was improper; I'm certain they all got a laugh on me then.

I'd also bet that MS did not mean to post about grammar and proper English lingo, yet place his period outside of the parenthetic notation too.

dwire wrote: I have used the following type of sentence in formal papers before:

"...the observed abrasions were course in nature..."

I wish I'd known in those days using the word "course" in formal writings was improper; I'm certain they all got a laugh on me then.:

The word "course" is not improper in formal writing (as an example: when describing a motorcycle race course), but using it as an abbreviation of "of course" is certainly not acceptable - any more than using it when you mean "coarse."

dwire wrote:I'd also bet that MS did not mean to post about grammar and proper English lingo, yet place his period outside of the parenthetic notation too.

You'd lose that bet big-time: inside quotations, outside parentheses.

Dang! LOL... I did not even need to look to know I used course instead of coarse - I remember doing it now DOH! Bad sentence example!!!

Should have read:

"...inertia carried it forward on a straight and predictable course..."

Really? (Could this be wrong?)

(Hmm. So this is correct then)? AND WAIT - should that be-->

(Hmm So this is correct then).?

Just ball busting as I am shocked I could have written a thesis with such things and not had them destroyed and been burned at the stake too for such boo-boos!

That is mind numbing that I was taught improperly, but I assuredly take your word for it. We all should know about "things in quotations..." Punctuation inside, but boy am I slipping, guess my prof's were slipping too when they never broke a ruler over my head like in THE BLUES BROTHERS.

We were not taught much of the exception for "an" as in this one --> "an historic occasion" when I was educated. One need take about ten different (college) minors in language (not English either). <- I am not sure I'll easily get used to that; likewise the change in the usage of "an" I commented on, much to my surprise while "an historic event" is correct, people only in the last decade or so have started getting it right very consistently like in the media and elsewhere public.This is just the opposite of how these things normally go; with time language gets "worse." Heart is now a verb too, LOL and other acronyms have been added to the dictionary, but they have yet to add WTF. Go figure...

As always, thanks.

BTW, tomorrow I'll post the dope for all to see about the OP's topic. I had no time for pictures and other supporting data of interest to put a lid on the question(s) and make no one question me, only my sources instead.