Language tips

Q: Are there any exceptions to the odd and nonsensical rule that the closing quotation marks be placed last in a sentence even when the quotation does not end the sentence?

A: I agree with your comment that the American rule is "odd and nonsensical," for it requires that closing quotation marks are invariably placed after commas and periods. (See, for example, the punctuation of the previous sentence.) That rule is neither logical nor based on sense. Under the British rule, quotation marks are always placed according to the sense of the statement; that is, where they logically belong. The contrast between the two rules can be seen in the following sentences. In these sentences, the American rule would require placing the quotation marks after the period at the end of the sentence merely to comply with the grammatical rule: "A post‑impressionist school of painting exemplified by Seurat and others is called "pointillism." Only the word "pointillism" is quoted; yet the closing quotation marks are placed after the period that ends the sentence.
In British English, the final quotation marks would be placed logically, according to the sense if the statement, so the final period would follow the closing quotation marks: "A post‑impressionist school of painting exemplified by Seurat and others is called "pointillism".
In a separate e‑mail another correspondent asked where the final period should be placed in the following sentence: "The subjunctive has almost disappeared in modern English ...". That punctuation is correct under the British rule; the final period that indicates the end of the sentence is placed after the quotation marks that indicate the end of the quotation. Under the American rule, the punctuation would be: "The subjunctive has almost disappeared in modern English ... ." (The period indicating the end of the sentence is placed one space away from the three periods indicating deleted material, but inside the final quotation marks.)
So one can understand why the correspondent called the American rule "odd and nonsensical."  However, there is one advantage to the American rule. If you follow it, you don’t have to think about where to put those closing quotes when they are used with periods and commas. Just automatically add them at the end.
The American rule also makes it easy to decide where to place closing quotation marks with respect to semi‑colons and colons. That part of the rule requires that quotation marks are always placed after semi‑colons and colons. However, when the sentence ends with either an exclamation point or a question mark, the "British rule" and the American rule are the same: both rules require that the closing quotation marks be placed where they logically belong.
Mary asked, "When are we leaving?"
Why did Mary ask, "When are we leaving"?
My only answer is "I don’t know!"
Please stop answering all my questions with, "I don’t know"!
If, like the correspondent who sent this question, you consider the American rule about quotation marks to be "nonsensical," follow the British rule instead. But don’t be surprised if your editor "corrects" your punctuation.

Q: AOL spell‑check sometimes tells me to capitalize the directions "north, south, east, and west" and some-times says these directions should be in lowercase. Their directions are confusing. Please clarify.

A: Points of the compass are capitalized when they refer to definite regions or are an integral part of a proper name, but they are not capitalized when they indicate only direction or a general area:

In the North............In the South.......On the north/south side of town
The Far North......The Deep South.....Travel north/south five miles.           
The North Pole.......The South Pole.....In the north of the nation

Capitalize words like Northerner, Southerner, Easterner, and Westerner. Also capitalize words like northern, southern, eastern, or western when they refer to political, social, or other such activities, but not when they indicate general location or the geography and climate of the area. For example:

Eastern politicians          The eastern part of the country
Southern hospitality       The southern states
The Northeastern vote   The northeastern area

Words like northern, southern, eastern and western are not usually capitalized because they merely refer to a general location or region, but when they are part of an actual part of a place name, they should be capitalized:

northern Connecticut  Northern Ireland
western Tennessee      Western Australia

However, an exception to this rule is that when people living in certain regions consider that their location has special importance, they capitalize that place name. Thus, residents of the southern part of California prefer to capitalize it: Southern California. Always capitalize special names that characterize certain areas:

The Big Apple         The Left Bank             
The South Lawn      The Beehive State
The Beltway            The Pacific Rim

This answer covers more territory than the correspondent requested, but less than you will probably need. For what is missing, see any good grammar or dictionary.

Gertrude Block is Lecturer Emerita at the University of Florida College of Law. Her book ,”Legal Writing Advice: Questions and Answers” (William S. Hein & Co., Inc.) was published in December 2004. Ms. Block is also author of “Effective Legal Writing”, 5th Edition (Foundation Press), with an accompanying instructor’s manual. She is co-author of the “Judicial Opinion Writing Manual” (published by the American Bar Association, 1991).  Send questions to the ISBA Bar News – Language Tips, Illinois State Bar Association, Illinois Bar Center, Springfield, IL 62701, or  mailto:block@law.ufl.edu.

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