Forum:Quotation Marks

Forums: Index > The World that Never was > Quotation Marks

Just a quick clarification. The Manual of Style explicitly says that the wiki follows American grammatical conventions. However, the manual itself repeatedly breaks these conventions with "Commonwealth" quotation mark usage. Is this an intentional exception to American grammar, or is it a lack of consistency? Lord Obitus 00:23, 11 July 2014 (UTC)

I have always agreed with the use of American grammar. I forget what his reasoning was, but our now-retired "chief editor" KrytenKoro enforced the usage of what you're calling "Commonwealth quotation mark usage" (I once tried to fix the quotation marks as you did, and this was immediately reverted). While the American version is what I'm in favor of because it's the more correct of the two, given what the Manual of Style states (as well as what my own English teachers and professors have stated), I don't really care if we keep using the other quotation mark format, so long as it's carried out consistently throughout the articles. Consistency is my main issue here. I'd like to push for using American grammar 100% of the time, as per the MoS, but if people object to it, then the MoS needs to be changed to reflect this (shouldn't the MoS be updated and such altogether?). - Eternal Nothingness XIII 01:41, 11 July 2014 (UTC)

I'm not sure what the issue is. What are "commonwealth" quotation marks? --Neumannz, The Dark Falcon 02:46, 11 July 2014 (UTC)

I believe he means this, Neumannz - "My friends are my power." (correct, American grammar) vs. "My friends are my power". (incorrect, and what's all over the Wiki) - Eternal Nothingness XIII 03:11, 11 July 2014 (UTC)

OOOOOOOOOOOH. Here's my answer:

These are not quotations, per se. As in, when it says

"The Way to the Dawn" should be named "Way to the Dawn".

we are not quoting someone who says, "Way to the Dawn." If we did, there's no question the period goes inside the quotation marks. Is this really against American grammar? --Neumannz, The Dark Falcon 04:05, 11 July 2014 (UTC)

According to one of the textbooks that I have to use at uni, commas or periods always fall inside quotation marks, even when they are not part of the quotation. Dashes, question marks and exclamation marks should be placed in quotation marks only if the belong to the quotation. It doesn't say if there is a difference between American grammar and grammar from other places, but it seems to be an American book, as it uses the American term period instead of the British full stop. So I think we should probably use the format that ENX suggested. - LevL 09:06, 11 July 2014 (UTC)

Yes, British grammar keeps the punctuation on the outside of the quotation marks. In the UK, we think it just looks strange to keep it inside. It's just a matter of whether we want to use British or American English. TheFifteenthMember 09:18, 11 July 2014 (UTC)

Ooooh, I hate that. Well, if everyone thinks this should be enforced, then we should do it. (Even though it looks wrong to me, too) --Neumannz, The Dark Falcon 12:33, 11 July 2014 (UTC)

I guess we're sticking to American English then (though I'll most likely end up forgetting). TheFifteenthMember 13:05, 11 July 2014 (UTC)

It's simply what's in the MoS. The whole thing needs kind of a revamp, so if we don't like it, we can just change it. How "wrong" this looks is really just a matter of opinion and where you're from and what you've been taught. - Eternal Nothingness XIII 14:01, 11 July 2014 (UTC)