For Logical Punctuation

It’s common knowledge that in the American English language, commas and periods go inside quotation marks. For example:

“I,” the boy said, “love to eat mud.”

Of course, this is not logically correct, as quotation marks are to be balanced punctuation, like parenthesis. To someone logically parsing the sentence, the first comma and final period would seem to be part of the quotation and not part of the main sentence. The main sentence would seem to lack correct punctuation. The problem becomes more acute when it comes to technical writing:

After you hit “Space,” hit “Enter.”

When you get to the command prompt, type “ls -l.”

The above two examples are technically correct, however, can lead to much confusion. Someone might actually include the punctuation in their commands. The American habit of placing commas and periods came from the days of hand-set printing, where commas and periods could become misaligned if not placed within the quotation marks. The British always have preferred to punctuate logically rather than conventionally and were willing to risk misalignment.

I personally always punctuate logically rather than conventionally. The convention of placing commas and periods within quotation marks is completely illogical and based only on archaic convention – and I’ve always fought it and punctuated the British and logical way.

Here’s how I would punctuate the three above examples:

“I”, the boy said, “love to eat mud”.

After you hit “Space”, hit “Enter”.

When you get to the command prompt, type “ls -l”.

Of course, commas and periods that actually logically belong inside the quotation marks should be kept inside.

Mr. Fiction exclaimed, “Don’t tell your mother!”.

As Mark Twain wrote in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, “The average man don’t like trouble and danger.”.

This can lead to what seems like “double-punctuation”, but that is logically correct and only seems a travesty because we are unaccustommed to seeing it. In time, we will come to accept it as the logical and correct way.

I have lost hundreds of points in my English classes over the years for stubbornly sticking to my own convention. However, one must be willing to stand up for his beliefs, and as I am, you should be as well. Stand up for your beliefs and always punctuate logically rather than conventionally. Keep the commas and periods where they belong!