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Mike Goronsky Posted 6 years ago
Grammar

UK .. BRITISH PUNCTUATION WITH QUOTE MARKS

Hi... Per UK (not American) style, are these punctuated satisfactorily? 1) 'It poses a formidable barrier, but it is not the high, thick masonry structure that most dictionaries term a “wall",' the report states 2) 'He told me very plainly to “pack up and leave",' she said. 3) 'That,' she said, 'is repulsive.' 4) Then she said, ‘Henry said, “I don't care what you do.”’(Full stop INSIDE ending quote mark because she's stating exactly what Henry said.) 5) Then she said, ‘Henry said, “I don't care what you do because you're ‘a purveyor of malicious quips”.’(This ending is punctuated with ”.’) Thank you
  

Top answer

I would question whether 'pack up and leave' in (2) is indirect or direct. Does it really need the quote marks? Debatable!

  • I would question whether 'pack up and leave' in (2) is indirect or direct.
  • Does it really need the quote marks?
  • Debatable!
  • (5) must be incorrect as you haven't got a balancing number of opening and closing speech / quotation marks.
  • There are two single openers and a double, so this number must be replicated in the number of end marks.
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2 Answers
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I would question whether 'pack up and leave' in (2) is indirect or direct. Does it really need the quote marks? Debatable!

(5) must be incorrect as you haven't got a balancing number of opening and closing speech / quotation marks. There are two single openers and a double, so this number must be replicated in the number of end marks. It's awkward, but I think the final group of punc

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You are 100% correct with #5. As you said, there weren't enough ending punctuation marks.

Thank you for your time.

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