GEN: Reference question re: commas and quotations marks

[Joni J Rathbun <jrathbun@OREDNET.ORG>]

Please forgive me for being up late asking more questions :)
I have a copy of the AP Styleguide at home. I haven't unpacked my MLA
yet. I'm at elementary these days so don't have any styleguides at
school (it might be appropriate to have one in the pro collection but
we're just starting that collection).

Anyway, I've done some online searching and believe I know the answer
to my question. But I see it done otherwise *so* often and have
been ridiculed inspite of having sources to back me up, I am seeking
1) the collective opinion of those in the know, and 2) any backup
from those with MLA or APA sitting on their shelves.

It is my understanding that according to standard American usage,
commas always go inside quotation marks:

"Digital Bath," the second cut on the Deftone's new album...

My AP style guide confirms this. Chicago Manual of Style does
as well. So does an older version of Fowlers I have on my shelves.
How about MLA and APA? I know when I look in magazines and books,
they do the same.

A teacher asked me this question last week and I answered, without
hesitation, that commas always go inside the quotation marks.
But this week my daughter came home with a copy of her school's
newspaper. Her article had a number of comma/quotation mark
examples. SHe had turned it in with the commas inside the
quotation marks -- because I have drilled her on this over
the years. As edited by the adult advisor and English teacher,
however, all commas in her article and other articles were moved
to the outside of the quotation marks. (Obviously, they aren't
using the AP [Associated Press] style guide.)

I brought this subject up elsewhere on line a few months ago
because I often see the commas outside the quotation marks online -- and
was challenged, being told it no longer mattered and that I was out of
date and out of tune.

Am I really out of it? Did the rules change somewhere along the
line? Or was this *ever* a hard and fast standard of American usage??
What do others know about this??

My thanks once again.

   Not all who wander are lost...

   J. Rathbun, Librarian
   Lincoln Elementary School - Las Vegas, Nevada
   jrathbun@orednet.org [home]




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