Compliment VERSUS Complement

Wow, a threat that I could actually comprehend without exhaustive reference checking. I feel alive!

Cheers,

James

AgBr said:

As for the punctuation inside/outside of the quotation marks (oooh,
we could get into the differences between quotes and quotations,
and uses of single and double marks), this is in a bit of
transition (at least in my field). Asking a computer user to

Type "some text."
could result in a very different action from
Type "some text".

As a result, I've got used to placing the sentence punctuation
period outside of any quoted text.

Click to expand...

Yes, as a programmer, the proper rule (period inside the quotes) grates on me, because the period terminates the sentence. But after the sentence has been terminated, then there is the dangling final quote.

Programmers pay a lot of attention to watching out that nesting delimiters nest properly. If you get the nesting wrong, then Bad Things Happen.

Wayne

if relevant to the quoted (or bracketed) text, punctuation needs to go inside. The sentence may still need closing as well.

Wayne Larmon said:

His only comment was, "who cares?".

Click to expand...

Otherwise, I agree completely.

I think that like many other rules, this (punctuate inside the quote) preconception does more harm than good; better for people to actually think about the specific sense, nesting context etc each time. If you are thinking clearly in the first place, it's obvious what you need to do.

Also, any rule that befuddles people like this can't be helping the situation.

RP

I played bad.
Rather than: I played badly.

I arrived home safe.
Rather than: I arrived home safely.

This is a very common error that I hear more and more often, especially from younger folks.

--
Don
http://www.pbase.com/dond

I hate, that was real good.
When they should say that was really good.
or
I could care less
when they mean
I couldn't care less
--
http://photo-utopia.blogspot.com/

My fave is:

"I seen him yesterday somewheres"

Mark Smith145430 said:

shudder

Click to expand...

what a Chevy is... it was supposed to convey that I'm a Ford guy. Who drives a Toyota and lusts after a Porsche... (c:

But thanks for the clarification, both of you.
--
Rob

If you're bored...
http://braveulysses.deviantart.com/