I’ve decided I’ve had enough with the idiocy of American-English grammar – only took me nearly 3 decades…
I am now going to (usually) put periods outside of quotes rather than inside.
Consider these two sentences:
Henry Higgins realized she had just said “the rain in Spain”.
vs.
Henry Higgins realized she had just said “the rain in Spain.”
Really, it makes little sense that the period would go within the quote as in the second example. It doesn’t properly end my sentence.
American grammar nazis are wrong and now I know why! Get the full scoop at How to Use Quotation Marks.
Why did the insanity start in the first place?
Basically, it came from a type-setting limitation wherein the little metal piece that created the period would fall off if it was at the end of a sentence. The Brits have been doing it the correct way; that is the method I am adopting.
What is that line about “be the change you want to see in the world”? This article is a bit of fun hyperbole – I’m not super crazy.
But I’ll pull a Darth Vader and ask you to…
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