Quote:
Originally Posted by MacEachaidh
Unfortunately, there are different rules (again!) between OZ punctuation and grammar and US English (for instance, in US English they include items like commas, full stops and semicolons within the quotation marks [a.k.a. inverted commas!] on items that aren't direct speech; in OZ and UK English we don't.
|
Now you've got me worried, Bran. I've been taught like this:
“Any special kind?” asked the bartender.
“Give me a Zeunerts, please,” he said.
In the first line, the question mark is obviously part of the text question, and should be inside the quotes. Nonetheless I've been taught to use a small initial letter for the "asked" since the end of the main sentence is not until after "bartender".
As for the second, I can't explain the logic here, unless it is punctuation intended to finish the quoted sentence, and no-one wants to put a full stop - or period if you're american - there. Illogical when the question mark in the line above was the equivalent of a full stop, but then, there's no punctuation mark composed of a question mark and comma!
Sounds like I've been taught at the same school as Luke. My English is (intended to be) UK English btw.