[stylist] question about parentheses

[Vejas]

Thanks.  I really enjoyed reading what you had to say.
Vejas


 ----- Original Message -----
From: Applebutter Hill <applebutterhill at gmail.com
To: "'Writer's Division Mailing List'" <stylist at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Mon, 28 Apr 2014 21:41:03 -0400
Subject: Re: [stylist] question about parentheses

Vejas,
In the US, we put the period outside of the sentence.  The 
parenthetical
phrase is part of the whole sentence, and the whole sentence 
needs a period
after it.  Not sure how the Brits handle this one, but I'd bet 
they agree
with us on this.

At the risk of saying too much, I want to point out one of the 
differences
between British and American punctuation norms.  It's just that I 
find it
fascinating.  When a sentence ends with a quotation, we put the 
period or
other ending punctuation inside the quotes.  But, the Brits look 
at the
sentence to see  what makes the most sense.  If the sentence and 
the quote
are both the same, say a statement, then the period applies to 
both and
follows the close quotes.

We can get ourselves into some trouble because we don't get the 
option in
America.  I keep waiting for this to change.  For instance, look 
at the
sentence:
Did you actually say, "You're a moron ....

This is a question with a quote inside.  American English puts 
the question
mark inside the quote, because you never put anything after the 
closing
quotation.  However, this makes it look like the quotation itself 
is a
question, which it clearly isn't.

So, American version:
Did you actually say, "You're a moron?" -- question mark, close 
quotes

The rest of the English-speaking world:
Did you actually say, "You're a moron"? -- Close quotes, question 
mark

I had a recent discussion about this with the editor of the Daisy 
Planet,
the publication of the international DAISY Consortium.  The 
editor is
Canadian and changed the end of one of my sentences to put the 
period
outside the quotes.  I mentioned that I should have 
double-checked the
publication to see if they were using British or American  
conventions, and
that when I did, it was clear they were using the British norms.  
She changed
it back, saying that it was my story and since I was an American, 
it should
be the way I had it.  I disagreed, because I thought the 
publication should
probably stick to one or the other, and from what I read, it was 
done the
British way.
Donna
-----Original Message-----
From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of 
Vejas
Sent: Monday, April 28, 2014 7:54 PM
To: stylist at nfbnet.org
Subject: [stylist] question about parentheses

Hi all,
I have a question about the use of parentheses.  If the last word 
in a
sentence is also the last word in a set of parentheses, should 
you write the
end parenthesis or the period first?
Thanks,
Vejas

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