Good question. MLA doesn't explicitly address this distinction, but says (3.7.7., p. 120 of 6th edition which I don't think is the latest edition but is the edition I could easily grab right now)
---
By convention, commas and periods that directly follow quotations go inside the closing quotation marks, but a parenthetical reference should intervene between the quotation and the required punctuation. Thus, if a quotation ends with a period, the period appears after the reference. . . . If a quotation ends with both single and double quotation marks, the comma or period precedes both.
"Read 'Kubla Kahn,'" he told me.
---
I interpret this passage to mean that no, the rule doesn't change for titles. Unless MLA has made a change in the 7th ed.
Beth
>>> Craig Hancock <[log in to unmask]> 10/29/2009 9:29 AM >>>
Does the rule change when using quotation marks to designate words as words or for titles? In other words, is it only for actual quotations? Has anyone seen a clear articulation of that?
"The Negro Speaks of Rivers", "Harlem", and "Mother to Son" are frequently anthologized Langston Hughes poems.
"Beat", over the years, has taken on meanings beyond the core meaning of repeatedly striking.
Are those considered correct?
Craig
Beth Young wrote:
Chiming in late . . . It's not just the NYT that cares about punctuation; many teachers will object to nonstandard punctuation of " and ,/.
So I tell my students they have choices:
1. Punctuate the "logical" way and they'll probably be fine in Canada, UK, etc. but not in the US for those who know the other rule. They'll need to think about their punctuation each time. They'll risk looking uneducated to audiences that know the US rule.
2. Punctuate according to the US rule and they'll be fine for any US audience that knows the rule, and the rule requires less thought (punctuating ./, and " is always the same; they'll only need to think about other punctuation marks).
I tell them to follow the US rule in my class because "house style" for our comp program = US rules. They can choose to do whatever they want, though, if they don't mind the consequences. I myself have been known to deliberately break rules I thought were silly . . . though as I grow older, breaking rules to make a point grows less attractive. (I even find myself correcting "less" to "fewer" sometimes. Andy-Rooney-ville, here I come.)
I too would like to know if the typesetter story is correct. I share the story with my students as possibly apocryphal because it helps them remember the US rule.
Beth
Brad Johnston <[log in to unmask]> ( mailto:[log in to unmask] ) 10/24/2009 10:56 PM >>> Good point, DD.
Or, tell the little dears to learn it the logical, reasonable, sensible way and then if they ever want to sell an article to the New York Times, they'll have three choices.
Slog through the NYT Style Book and make their work comply.
Send it in and hope the NYT copy editor will change it to suit.
If it comes up, defend it as "style and preference".
(You would not believe the number of authors who have defended bad grammar to me based on "style and preference", e.g., Stuart Woods defending, "Attila had been killed for fifty dollars" (without context, Herb).
~~~~
DD Farms <[log in to unmask]> ( mailto:[log in to unmask] ) wrote:
Because you write to the style book's conventions, or you don't get published?
~~~~
Brad Johnston <[log in to unmask]> ( mailto:[log in to unmask] ) wrote:
Good Grief, Good Grammar, by Dianna Booher, c.1988.
page 133: "Rules about quotation marks used in conjunction with commas and periods often bring resistance because they are illogical. Never mind, just learn them. Place commas and periods inside closing quotation marks -- regardless of meaning."
Nonsense. It is easy, logical, and meaningful to put quotation marks where they belong, at both ends of a quotation. Why would anyone struggle to teach it otherwise?
.brad.sat.24oct09.
To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
and select "Join or leave the list"
Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.htmland select "Join or leave the list"
Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at: http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html and select "Join or leave the list"
Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
To join or leave this LISTSERV list, please visit the list's web interface at:
http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/ateg.html
and select "Join or leave the list"
Visit ATEG's web site at http://ateg.org/
|
