Comments on: Compound Modifiers

By: Craig Magnus

Craig Magnus — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 18:36:27 +0000

I’m in a quandary. How should I hyphenate the following sentence?

She wore a pair of platinum and one carat diamond dangle earrings.

By: Carol

Carol — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 14:53:23 +0000

I didn’t realize the site originated outside the U.S. It is something I must keep in mind when turning to the Internet for information. Yes, apparently there are differences. Thanks for pointing that out to me. I truly had no idea!

As they say, you learn something new every day.

I apologize for assuming something without knowing the facts.

This is something I will share with my students, who repeatedly put periods and commas outside the quote marks. : ( They have no excuse — they were educated in American schools. : )

By: Solange

Solange — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 03:31:11 +0000

You may teach English, but not in Canada or the U.K. We maintain punctuation outside quotation marks, unlike the Americans who prefer to use them inside the quotation marks. Seeing as this website (and many others for that matter) reach far and wide around the globe, you are bound to see differences. You have your preference and we have ours. The U.S. is only 1 country, whereas there are 53 Commonwealth countries. We still spell words with extra vowels too and typically use the letter “s” versus the letter “z” in some words. We also pronounce the letter “z” zed, whereas you pronounce it zee.

With all due respect your language has evolved in a different direction, but it originated in England…we all need to keep an open mind when communicating globally. In our Canadian schools, we teach our children the difference between Canadian and American spelling and grammar so that they are aware.

By: Carol

Carol — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 18:19:46 +0000

Why am I seeing commas and periods placed outside of quotation marks?

Are there exceptions to the rule that I am unaware of? If so, what exception are we talking about?

The only punctuation that goes outside of quotation marks, with the exception of the occasional question mark, are colons and semi-colons.

I teach grammar, spelling and punctuation, and I am always telling my students to put commas and periods inside quote marks, yet they get online and see something completely contradictory to what I am teaching. And this is supposed to be a writing site. I’m confused. : (

By: Stuart Taylor

Stuart Taylor — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 00:35:37 +0000

I take and accept your point. Here in New Zealand we follow British English but due to the internet and Mr Microsoft, American styles and spelling is creeping in. The offical language in Parliament follows the Westminster system so all legislation etc, follows these rules. Americans have in many cases modified the British English but equally have retained some older spellings such as color (colour in NZ). I agree that commas can be a separater and the uasge in your text would be correct here along the correct use of the semicolon. The point I was making is that in NZ schools the test for hyphens is that which I mentioned. I think in the widest concept English is now universal language and is contiuning to evole – more so than any other language.

I think the issue is do we keep it “pure” as many would like or allow it to change? Consequently the grammatical styles and usage will change. NZ Courts now accept this and no longer require evidence to meet and exact style.

Thanks for your constructive comments.