Question about quoted statements.

[KillerMuffin]

A question came up in an edit. Which is correct?

"Hello, I'm Joe, Brunhilda's friend from the pub." he said.

or

"Hello, I'm Joe, Brunhilda's friend from the pub," he said.



All of the dratted examples I've found in my numerous and quite useless grammar books have all put it as: He said, "Hello."

I am aware that there are vast differences in American and British punctuation, I am not too terribly sure which nationality the person I am editing for is, maybe I should bring the subject up. Any way. ?

 

[Closet Desire]

Hey killer...

In this case, there's no difference between the British and the American. There isn't that much difference on most of the fundamental stuff. The second example is correct punctuation for presenting dialogue. I checked this one with the Chicago Manual of Style and it's pretty clear.

I was going to say you can usually tell if it's British or not, but mixing a name like "Joe" and "pub" makes it a bit uncertain. I've never met anyone named "Joe" over here!

Hope that helps.

 

[Whispersecret]

As far as I know, the rules of punctuation for dialogue are exactly the same in the Queen's English and in American English. I've read many novels written by Brits, and the punctuation and grammar was exactly like ours. (But perhaps the publishers modify it before distribution in the States...I'm not savvy to the ins and outs of the publishing world. YET.) The main differences are in vocabulary.

However, to answer your question, it's the second way, abso-fuckin-lutely.

"Hello, I'm Joe, Brunhilda's friend from the pub," he said.

In dialogue if you have the tag after the quotation, you must end the quotation with either a comma (the most common), a question mark, or an exclamation point.

 

[KillerMuffin]

Then shame on you WS, lol, you never caught MY fuckup! Toodling off to apologize to the author. Muffins do NOT like the taste of crow.

 

[Closet Desire]

Still...

That said, don't get complacent. Comparing British English with American English is apples to oranges. It's more than just slightly different spellings of certain words. Some words spelled the same have entirely different or slightly different meanings (bum, bottom, and fanny for instance). Ditto for expressions, sentence structure, and preferences in punctuation. On top of that are regional differences in how the language is used and presented both orally and in writing.

I can't say this is the universal practice but books and articles I've written in American English have been substantially changed before being published here. Vice versa for my wife's books and articles which have been published in the US. I think they try to maintain the flavour/flavor of the author while smoothing it out for market.

So...words spoken by Oscar Wilde are still true today..."two nations divided by a common language."

Oh yeah, custom here by some publishers is to use single quotes on a quotation rather than double. Gotcha. Go figure.

 

[Whispersecret]

CD, very interesting indeed. I bow to your obviously greater knowledge on this subject. Have you got a title? I'd love to be able to address a man in bed as "my lord," and mean it! Heh heh.

 

[Closet Desire]

Culture shock...

Funny you should mention that...I've had my eye on a few lordships in Yorkshire, but maybe I should just go to an auction! (Yes...really)

I 'spose I have a title, but I tend to ignore it. I have one of those academic backgrounds that drives parents to distraction. Well, mine stopped talking to me. I have two postgrad degrees in literature...one in the US and one in the UK. My pet peeve was American English profs who thought they knew what the British language was all about. I had one who insisted she could teach The Wasteland even though she didn't even know what "Hurry up gentlemen, it's time" meant. It was sort of integral to Eliot's plot. It works in reverse too with lots of "discussion" with British scholars who think they've got African-American literature figured out. I think the choicest one was a scholar who presented a paper at Durham claiming that Danny Glover's character in Lethal Weapon was the perfect achievement for a black man because he had been "assimilated" into the culture and had the same values as the "white" culture. I tried to explain about fundamental differences in culture...the English tend to assimilate while Americans, I think, continue to value cultural, ethnic, and personal distinction. Oh well...I digress.

Anyway, nothing prepared me for the magnitude of the culture shock when I married my best friend of ten years...a lovely English woman. We proof each other's work but it's hell because we were taught different and it's the subtle stuff that confuses. Commas, word structures, full stops...it's a seething cauldron. We learned about subtle differences in words we thought we understood, but which have different magnitudes. For example, she might say she's angry with me which is a strong word for an American, but in her usage equates with "mildly annoyed".

It has been useful in my studies of Romantic literature to be so distant from English culture because it gives new slants on the literature. I'm just finishing up a research project on Emily Bronte, a book actually, that makes some profound statements that haven't been made before. Some of the papers have already been published. I think it was possible because I shared nothing of the culture or even the area (North Yorkshire) leaving only the language to go on. Anyway it's been great fun.

Now about those titles and my humble servants...