Dear Marshall and Martha,
Thanks very much for your replies. Since this example will be used by students as an authentic text to demonstrate quotation marks in their presentation tomorrow, and I myself am not 100% certain about my analysis of the usage, I am very grateful for your second opinions.
I wondered about placing a comma before the quote, but then the comma would suggest to me that "in dealing with Iran" could be construed as a nonessential phrase. I have frequently noticed nonessential structures that come after a coordinator or subordinator being set off by a single comma after the phrase; given the trend toward minimizing commas, the comma before such phrases is frequently omitted when the phrase follows a word already set off by a comma. Does either of you agree? Or is my analysis faulty?
Thanks,
Natalie
________________________________
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar on behalf of Myers, Marshall
Sent: Thu 4/22/2010 12:01 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: query on colon use
Natalie,
First, let me say that there are many varieties of "rules" for punctuation.
The punctuation style in the United States differs from the British form. For example, the British use single quotation marks where we use double.
In addition, the punctuation styles differ in a variety of publications in the United States. The punctuation in a popular novel is different many times from the punctuation in various disciplines in the academic world.
In fact, the punctuation style in academic pieces differs many times from one discipline from another and even within a discipline. The punctuation style in a formal paper in English literature varies from the punctuation in technical writing document, for instance.
So it's not surprising that you looked at the sentence you cited and asked if it were correct. Particularly, the punctuation style in journalism is many times different from the punctuation in academia. For example, in Newsweek you might find a sentence like this: His goal: enrolling as many people as possible. Here the verb (presumably is) is left out entirely. So like your inquiry, it is not a complete sentence with the normal subject and predicate. Journalism often uses sentence fragments, skips the last comma in a series, among many others also.
I generally think that a colon introducing a quotation in an academic paper is more formal compared to a sentence in another style that may use just a comma. In a similar situation.
One interesting convention in many style sheets is that if you are using a semicolon or colon, each would fall outside the quotation marks.
So my direct answer to your question is that the journalist writing the "sentence" you cited was probably following the customary rules of punctuation in journalism.
But if I were re-writing the sentence for a formal academic paper, I would probably introduce the quotation with a sentence with a subject and predicate.
It's all pretty confusing, and explains, in part, why students often have difficulties with punctuation.
But I'd invite others to add their comments, too. I certainly haven't covered it all.
Marshall
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Natalie Gerber
Sent: Thursday, April 22, 2010 10:47 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: query on colon use
Dear all,
Would you weigh in on the use of a colon to introduce the following direct quote?
From The New York Times 4/14/10 A4:
Speaking to reporters, Mr. Obama said he had insisted to President Hu Jintao of China that in dealing with Iran: "Words have to mean something. There have to be some consequences."
What precedes the colon is not a complete clause. Shouldn't this be a blended quote without any punctuation directly prior to the quotation? Or is this example an instance of the colon used when the following material in some way amplifies upon the prior text?
Thanks for your insights.
All best,
Natalie
____________________
Natalie Gerber, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of English
SUNY Fredonia
ph. (716) 673-3855
fax (716) 673-4661
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