A Bit About Grammar

I’ve written about this subject before, but I may have made a slight mistake on one point. I said that periods and commas should always go inside quotation marks. Well, it seems the world has passed me by, and me without a clue that I wasn’t “hip”. I kept wondering why I saw so many people putting the punctuation outside the quote marks. I’ve even seen it a few times in publications, but I just figured the editors were ignorant. Yeah, that’s it, they were ignorant. Certainly it wasn’t me.

When I had Looking Back edited, the editor asked me if I didn’t want to put some of my punctuation marks outside the quotes. I quickly answered, “No way! Why would I want to do that?” Well, she tells me, this has become an accepted way to do it now because it makes more sense to some people. Whether it was the failure of teachers to teach proper grammar, or lazy people who didn’t learn the rules, I don’t know. But just like some of the other rules that have changed in recent years, it is now acceptable to put commas and periods outside the quotation marks on occasion, as listed below.

It is acceptable when you include a word or phrase inside quotation marks at the end of a sentence, but that is not a direct quote.

Example, outside: He claimed he was a “General”.

Example, inside: He said, “I am a General.”

Okay, now that I’ve told you this, I can say that I honestly can’t do it. I can still hear the English teachers screaming at us to learn the rule about commas and periods going inside the quotation marks. So I left my punctuation as I had been taught in my new book, Looking Back. If that marks me as old-fashioned or behind the times, so be it. Until I have a magazine editor say something about it, I will continue to punctuate the traditional way.

And I realize rules do change. I can remember in school learning to use commas everywhere. There were a million rules about using commas. Then one day, it became acceptable to basically only use commas to separate clauses in places where you would pause in speech. That was a lot easier for me, I’ll admit, but I still use more than many other writers. Sometimes if you’re not careful, carefully worded sentences can turn into long, confusing run-on sentences that have to be read several times to make sense.

So here is a place where you can go for help when you’re confused about a grammar point. A site called Ask the Grammar Lady is operated by a former teacher. You can go to her website, or direct your grammar questions to: p.acton@mchsi.com.

Best of luck with all your writing adventures.