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I've received approx 25 responses to my question about commas and quotation marks. I said I believed the comma always goes inside the quotation marks but had been told otherwise recently. I wanted to double check and get a "collective" second opinion before making any more statements locally. All but one responder agreed. The responses can be summed up as follows: % According to the standards of American usage, MLA, APA, the Chicago Manual of Style, the Associated Press Stylebook (style guide used by most newspapers) and many other sources including the advisor at the Purdue Writing Center, commas always go inside quotation marks except when, according to MLA, a parenthetical reference follows the quotation as shown below: "Too many teachers assign too many tedious chores. If they tried a few of these assignments themselves, they'd never require them again" (Ohanian 8). A quick look-see through any periodical or book published in the United States will show US publishers following this standard as well. Do note, the same rule does not apply for other punctuation marks which are governed by their relation to quoted material. Also note, I am talking about American usage. British usage is different (the comma goes in or out depending upon the relation to the quoted material). Style guides referenced were current. I have not included my old copy of Fowler's because it is -- old. But it is in agreement as well. The one response in disagreement stated that he/she had been taught otherwise and to this day will not accept papers in which the comma is placed inside the quotation marks. Not all who wander are lost... J. Rathbun, Librarian Lincoln Elementary School - Las Vegas, Nevada jrathbun@orednet.org [home] =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-==-= All postings to LM_NET are protected under copyright law. To quit LM_NET (or set-reset NOMAIL or DIGEST), send email to: listserv@listserv.syr.edu In the message write EITHER: 1) SIGNOFF LM_NET 2) SET LM_NET NOMAIL or 3) SET LM_NET DIGEST 4) SET LM_NET MAIL * Please allow for confirmation from Listserv. For LM_NET Help see: http://ericir.syr.edu/lm_net/ Archives: http://askeric.org/Virtual/Listserv_Archives/LM_NET.html See also EL-Announce for announcements from library media vendors: http://www.mindspring.com/~el-announce/ =-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=--=-=-=