Grammar Geeks Come Hither - Which Punctuation Style is Correct?

College Confidential Community
21

<p>Both are technically correct, but as for the macaroni and cheese thing, thats only a problem in that instance because “macaroni and cheese” may be understood as one item or two.</p>

22

<p><a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_comma[/url]”>http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Serial_comma&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

23

<p>Both are technically correct, but the first way is more proper. It’s kind of a new-fangled trend to leave out the last comma. The first way just seems more natural. But you’ll see many newspapers and magazines now leave out the comma, as a way of keeping up with the times.</p>

24

<p>If there is any doubt, check the style sheet adopted by the professor/department in question.</p>

25

<p>Actually, I believe that newspapers started to leave out the last comma during typesetting times. The letter dyes cost money, so they tried to have as few as possible; it took time to put in another dye; and the extra comma took up space. That tradition then continued, but is, I think, a historical artifact.</p>

26

<p>Exactly. British schoolchildren have been taught the second approach probably for generations. It certainly can’t be said to be less proper.</p>

27

<p>The first one is correct though. What bugs me is that Frenchies use << for quotation marks instead of ". It looks so freakin’ ugly!
i.e. “I like cheese,” he said.
<< J’aime le fromage, >> il dit.</p>

28

<p>Check out the Wikipedia article, in post #22 which will tell you more than you ever wanted to know. The general pattern in the U. S.–to which there are exceptions–is that academic presses us the extra comma, journalistic publications usually do without.</p>

29

<p>The first way is taught in school, but either is correct, except when the second causes confusion.</p>

30

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<p>Some books randomly omit the ‘>>’ if it’s at the end of a paragraph, which I find really annoying for no particular books. However, what you said also depends on the publisher. French publishers from France always use <</>> but French publishers from Quebec sometimes use regular quotation marks.</p>

31

<p>If neither introduces ambiguity, you can leave out the serial comma – that’s one less ‘speed bump’ for the reader.</p>