Subj : Quotation Marks...  2.
To   : Paul Quinn
From : Ardith Hinton
Date : Fri Mar 02 2018 18:00:57

Hi again, Paul!  This is a continuation of my previous message to you:

           Just got some more ideas re using single quotation marks as you have 
been.  There is an advantage for others who may wish to cite your work, in that 
they can just add double quotes onto the beginning & the end of whatever you've 
said.  But who would receive the most benefit from it??  Folks in the "publish- 
or-perish" business who may be using double quotes as *their* default... [BEG].

           Seriously, though, such people have resources we don't have.  We are 
limited to what can be done with a standard keyboard.  From that POV we can all 
learn from whatever a well-trained stenographer has to say on the subject.  :-)



PQ>  I see the colon as a mistake.  This is as a result
PQ>  of doing a lot of reading in my early formative years
PQ>  (something I don't do any more except for on-screen
PQ>  manuals, etc).  I used to read a lot of biographical
PQ>  works & sci-fi novellas


           IOW you've never read a lot of plays and/or written a lot of essays, 
as English majors tend to do.  The colon is okay AFAIC... [chuckle].



PQ>  and this taught me to make use of the comma before
PQ>  launching into dialogue and recitation.


           In general, yes... that's how I was taught.  Nowadays I tend to omit 
it sometimes because I had a university instructor... probably USAian, I guess, 
based on what I learned in later years... who criticized me for using "too many 
commas".  Brits tend to use commas with greater frequency than USAians do.  :-)



PQ>  I don't know about Aussie English.  I'm not the
PQ>  typical 'bloke from OZ', though some insurance
PQ>  company representatives and telephone survey
PQ>  operators try to tell me that I still fit their
PQ>  mould.


           Ex-Brit Canadians are an endangered species, apparently, where years 
ago they were in the majority.  I notice differences in the way things are done 
hither & yon precisely because... while I live right next to the States & visit 
there often... I grew up on magazines sent to my family by various relatives in 
the Old Country.  I'm not typical either.  But IMHO I have some unique insights 
to offer as a result... and so do you.  I'm convinced you know a lot more about 
Aussie English than yours truly.  Everyone in E_T has his or her talents.  If I 
forget the names of the verb tenses in English I know there are at least half a 
dozen Fidonetters in Russia who would gladly bail me out.  They know this stuff 
because they learned English as a foreign language.  It's easier & more fun for 
me to ask them for advice than to dig out my old French & Latin textbooks.  ;-)



PQ>  Oh, and I failed at Grade 10 English and have the
PQ>  certificate to prove it still.  But that was a
PQ>  lifetime ago.


           In this part of the world at least, there is a fairly steep learning 
curve between grade nine & grade ten.  If you relocated in Australia around the 
same time and/or didn't like being chained to a desk while your English teacher 
droned on & on about technicalities which were of little interest to you at the 
time that's quite understandable to me.  It's also quite possible that you just 
weren't developmentally ready for the stuff when you were expected to learn it. 
I was very happy when I discovered at thirty-five that I could play softball as 
well as the average ten-year-old.  When I was growing up, PE class (i.e. active 
sports) was a nightmare for me.  Perhaps I'm a slow learner in that department. 
But I'm comfortable in my own skin now... and I think that's what matters.  :-)




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
 * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)

.