Today's English Lesson

[jackofallgeeks]

OK, so, I have a sort of love for language and grammar. It's really quite twisted. But this means that I'm a big fan of proper speaking, and writing, and grammar, and all that fun stuff. Of course, my mom makes a point of noting every time I say "Me and The Boys are doing such-and-such," but that's not the point.

One bit of grammar that's always eluded me, though, is the correct use of quotation marks. So, as I was thinking of this today, I went and looked it up in a reference guide, and thought I'd share the pertinent bits I found.

Quotations are used for direct quotes not indirect, meaning you only use them if you're quoting the exact words someone used. A direct quote begins with a capital letter. If the quote is split by an interrupting expression like "he said," the second part begind with a lower-case letter. Unless the second part is itself a new sentence, then it begins with a capital letter. A direct quote is set off from the rest of the sentence by commas or by a question mark or exclaimation point.

Commas and periods are always placed inside closing quotation marks.
Semicolons and colons are always placed outside of closing quotation marks.
Question marks and exclaimation points are placed inside the quotation marks if the quotation is a question or an exclamation, otherwise they are placed outside.
No more than one comma or end mark is used at the end of a quotation.

Single quotes enclose a quotation within a quotation.
Titles of chapters, articles, short stories, poems, and songs are placed in quotes. Book and magazine titles are underlined or italicized.

Comments

ha!

[xenu.livejournal.com]

If you love grammar so much, why don't you MARRY it?

Re: ha!

[jackofallgeeks.livejournal.com]

...it never returns my calls...

that bitch!

[xenu.livejournal.com]

you should try baking cookies for it?

[quix.livejournal.com]

WHat about the difference between single quotes and double quotes?

[jackofallgeeks.livejournal.com]

"Single quotes enclose a quotation within a quotation," was all I could find.

[tiel.livejournal.com]

That's really all there is to those.

[nif.livejournal.com]

Single and double quotes can also be used for rhetorical effect. If the author is altering the word meaning to suit his own purpose it should be in single quotes. An example sentence: She called this schedule of activities her 'load'-- work, study, exercise, and sleep.

If a word is purposely being used incorrectly or with special emphasis or irony use double quotes. Example: During the "confrontation," not a word was spoken, not an eye blinked-- both slowly retreated back into the woods.

I am a grammar hell-beast.

By the way, Andrew, I seem to remember us having a discussion over whether "ensure" and "insure" were different. My professor recently told the class that ensure is "to make sure of" and insure is like car insurance. That is all.

*loves Nifer*

[jackofallgeeks.livejournal.com]

This is all true.

However, 'insure' is one of those fun words which have multiple uses/meaning. In particular:

"ENSURE, INSURE, and ASSURE are interchangeable in many contexts where they indicate the making certain or inevitable of an outcome, but INSURE sometimes stresses the taking of necessary measures beforehand, and ASSURE distinctively implies the removal of doubt and suspense from a person's mind."

Generally, they all mean 'to make certain,' but with different connotations.

Re: *loves Nifer*

[nif.livejournal.com]

My professor would shit kittens if you ever told him that and possibly order you to exit his classroom. He tends to rant about there being no such things as synonyms, that every word is distinctly different, and that every word has a specific instance in which to be used.
I love him.

Re: *loves Nifer*

[jackofallgeeks.livejournal.com]

-laughs- I'd love to see him do just that. Minus the shitting kittens part, as that's just, you know, weird.

I do agree that each word is distinctly different and has a specific instance in which to be used. In fact, that's precisely the thing I love about vocabulary. However, I would disagree that there can't be more than one way to say "to make certain," which is exactly what we have here. It is the subtleties and connotations and specific emphasis between words which differentiates which is more appropriate in any given case.

Anyways, I have Merriam-Webster (http://www.webster.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=ensure&x=0&y=0) on my side. Who's he got?

[raen.livejournal.com]

I've always wondered if you wanted to quote someone but only wanted to use parts of their sentence.. if this was the proper way to do it.

"She called me over to her place [...] but we never did anything."

and if you want to make sure someone knew what the quote was refering to when the quote wasn't specific:

"They [Jim and Bob] went out for dinner."

[jackofallgeeks.livejournal.com]

Judging from journalism, I believe those are acceptable. The Reference didn't mention it one way or the other. Though, I believe the second is more appropriately, "[Jim and Bob] went out for dinner."

[nif.livejournal.com]

Me again, sorry. Just thought I'd clear this one up as well.
Ellipses don't require brackets. It would just be "She called me over to her place ... but we never did anything." Ellipses are typically put in bold as well. Never use ellipses in quotes for any sort of journalism though. As the Associated Press Style Guide says: "Never alter quotations even to correct minor grammatical errors or word usage." When in doubt, paraphrase what you want to use.
Andrew got the second one perfect.

[jackofallgeeks.livejournal.com]

*basks in Nifer's praise*

[raen.livejournal.com]

ah. i see. thx