posted
Well, the only recent book than I can think off the top of my head is le Carr�'s The Constant Gardener, which despite being printed in 2001, has the single quotes. Also, the novel is quite shite. But that doesn't mutually exclude it from having silly quote diaglogue shenanigans.
Registered: Oct 1999
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posted
I remember reading a foreword at one point where the author explained why he was going to use single quotes for the present book which only made sense. The idea being that you could stack up the quote marks as needed for increasingly nested heresay. Thus:
quote: ... Antonia replied, 'Now that you mention it, Detective, it was queer. Marcus said, ''I bit my lip when Sister Devlin screamed, '''The next imbecile who utters the word ''''bollocks'''' gets stabbed directly in the eye.''' And we all knew she meant it.'' He had the most pained expression just then as he remembered.'
Appologies for the above banality, and I'm certain my punctuation needs work, but you may get my meaning regardless.
What I'm less clear on is what happens when the quotes are for a title as in:
quote: The greatest movie of all time is 'Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan'.
or is it:
quote: The greatest movie of all time is 'Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.'
I mean I know you could always just italicize the title (which is likely what I'd do) and thus skirt the issue, but if you had to use quotes, does the period at the end of the sentence belong within the quote mark?
-------------------- "Nah. The 9th chevron is for changing the ringtone from "grindy-grindy chonk-chonk" to the theme tune to dallas." -Reverend42
Registered: Sep 2000
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posted
Actually, the correct way to write those would be:
The greatest movie of all time is Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan.
and:
Have you seen Spiderman?
Anyway, the official rule is that the punctuation goes inside the quotes. However, I usually ignore that rule because it makes no logical sense. It's just arbitrary.
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-------------------- "I was surprised by the matter-of-factness of Kafka's narration, and the subtle humor present as a result." (Sizer 2005)
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posted
All language rules are ultimately arbitrary.
And I keep punctuation inside the quotes unless I'm quoting something that ends in a way I don't want my sentence to end, or if I want to quote something exactly as it appears elsewhere.
Thus: Did you talk to Paul? Was he all "No you don't, girlfriend!"?
Or: I don't know if you can believe him, but he says his e-mail address is "[email protected]".
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posted
Pulitzer.
Registered: Oct 1999
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capped
I WAS IN THE FUTURE, IT WAS TOO LATE TO RSVP
Member # 709
posted
yes, thats the exception i make as well.. i realized one day when i added a completely unnoticed connotation to the phrase like this:
"So, have you read 'Dreadnought!?'
making me appear to be saying either the name of the book was a shocked question (look at the picture of Kirk on the cover and tell me it doesnt look like he's saying "Dreadnought!?.. oh, crap!"), or it appears that im saying the sentence as a shocked question instead of typing in a normal 'tone of voice,' just like "Hey, what's up?" sound a little lower key than "Hey, what's up!?"
-------------------- "Are you worried that your thoughts are not quite.. clear?"
Registered: Sep 2001
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posted
I have never seen the punctuation inside the quote in books or media. That's stupid, like if you have several quotes, why should the last one get soiled?
-------- 'I have "1984" at home, but do you like "Gone with the wind?????"
-No I don't like "Gone with the wind?????", now sit down and shut "up!!!"
-Yes sir.
--------
See, perfectly viable.
-------------------- "I'm nigh-invulnerable when I'm blasting!" Mel Gibson, X-Men
Registered: Aug 1999
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capped
I WAS IN THE FUTURE, IT WAS TOO LATE TO RSVP
Member # 709
posted
maybe you weren't looking, because I've never seen it outside, except on message boards.
quote:> Kirk heard Spock's voice call out "Captain!," and he turned, caught a glimpse of the science officer framed in the partly open door of a gangway. He and his security team backed through; Spock let the door slam shut, fused the mechanism with a burst of phaser fire. In the near darkness of the stairwell, he was aware of clustering, luminous eyes, of a strong, but not unpleasant, alien smell--of being surrounded by the living breathing bodies of the race he had only known that morning as charred skeletons, mummified corpses. > "Where're Arios and Mr. Scott?" > "Flank guards," said Spock briefly, and handed him a translator disk. "They'll rendezvous in the shuttle deck with us, each of them has a half-dozen Yoons with them, armed with phasers." > "My granddaughter Iriane," whistled Darthanian, "has a great anger in her, a terrible rage--and she has been trained as a warrior. Believe me, these human beings have no idea what it was they brought on board their starship."
posted
I've heard the nested quotation mark thing before. Since you are hardly ever likely to need more than one nesting of a conversation within another (and if you do, you really need to learn to write better, says Run-On-Sentence-Man), you'll only ever need singles and doubles.
"Hey Simon" said Liam, "did you hear Tim call you a 'motherfucking horse's mother fucker'?"
Or 'Hey Simon' said Sexy Liam, "did you hear Tim call you a "Complete arse raping arse raper"?'
Something like that anyway.
-------------------- Yes, you're despicable, and... and picable... and... and you're definitely, definitely despicable. How a person can get so despicable in one lifetime is beyond me. It isn't as though I haven't met a lot of people. Goodness knows it isn't that. It isn't just that... it isn't... it's... it's despicable.
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
I'm assuming you meant to have a single mark in front of "did."
Anyway, Liam is in accordance to my general perception of the whole thing. Which is good.
Now we have to deal with the pesky fact that we've turned a thread about love and loss and emotions and angst into a debate about punctuation. Which is of course useful in the expression of the aforementioned concepts, but hardly the sort of thing that thaws hearts and raises members.
-------------------- "I was surprised by the matter-of-factness of Kafka's narration, and the subtle humor present as a result." (Sizer 2005)
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Cartman
just made by the Presbyterian Church
Member # 256
posted
Somehow I doubt that a thread about "love and loss and emotions" "thaws hearts and raises members" anymore than a decent "debate about punctuation" would (note the omitted period, which I have tactfully placed at the end of this sentence).
Registered: Nov 1999
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posted
Well, the original issue of the thread was resolved already, so it's okay to talk about punctuation now.
And, as far as I know, nested quotes just alternate between double and single quotes. There are no triple quotes and so on. E.g., "I asked Simon, 'Did you hear Liam say "'Hey Simon' said Sexy Liam"?'. 'Yes,' said Simon, 'but I didn't know that "sexy" could mean "sexually depraved"'."
Registered: Mar 1999
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posted
Now I understand. Of course the punctuation should be left inside the quotation if it belonged to the quote. But when you said "quotation" I thought of person-, movie- and book-names, those shouldn't be paired with punctuations belonging to the speaker. There, all fine now.
-------------------- "I'm nigh-invulnerable when I'm blasting!" Mel Gibson, X-Men
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