Questions on () and ""

John61480 · Oct 17, 2006

Question: When do you put capitalize and punctuate within parenthesis?

For example:

In his ten years of service, he had never heard such a racket. The door to his cubicle office was roughly pushed in and a woman (He recognized as Mrs. Blah from many months ago for lunches—since the place he worked at was really a small message board get together and it was hard not to hear about everyone during the chatter on the threads) briskly walked over and tossed her purse onto the nearby coffee table where he held his various stacks of National Geographic.

Assuming you need a period at the end, wouldn't it look funny to have two period on inside the (.) and then outside (Hi, my name is Blah.). ?

Another Question: Do commas and periods come before or after an apopstohe.

For example:

He liked to call it "the word", sometimes he liked to call it "bad".

kikonie · Oct 17, 2006

John61480 said:
Question: When do you put capitalize and punctuate within parenthesis?

In his ten years of service, he had never heard such a racket. The door to his cubicle office was roughly pushed in and a woman (he recognized as Mrs. Blah from many months ago for lunches—since the place he worked at was really a small message board get together and it was hard not to hear about everyone during the chatter on the threads) briskly walked over and tossed her purse onto the nearby coffee table where he held his various stacks of National Geographic.

You would only capitalize inside the bracket if what is inside is a whole new sentence, coming after a complete (finishing with a period) sentence. (Hee-hee.)

Having shown the correct form, I must add that you would be better off doing this:
...and a woman - that he recognized as Mrs. Blah from many months ago for lunches since the place he worked at was really a small message board get together and it was hard not to hear about everyone during the chatter on the threads - briskly walked over and tossed her purse onto the nearby coffee table that held his various stacks of National Geographic.

Assuming you need a period at the end, wouldn't it look funny to have two period on inside the (.) and then outside (Hi, my name is Blah.). ?

Another Question: Do commas and periods come before or after an apopstohe.

For example:

He liked to call it "the word", sometimes he liked to call it "bad".

You nailed this one.

Cheers,
Kiko

John61480 · Oct 17, 2006

Okay.

I also noticed the correction with the paragraph and I think the correction is much better.

K1P1 · Oct 17, 2006

Actually, in US usage, the commas and periods are always placed inside the quotation marks, so it would be:
He liked to call it "the word," sometimes he liked to call it "bad."

In British usage, they are placed wherever it is logical, as in the original:
He liked to call it "the word", sometimes he liked to call it "bad".

Bufty · Oct 18, 2006

Were it mine, I would re-do that whole sentence - it's not the easiest of sentences to keep a hold on as one reads.

FennelGiraffe · Oct 18, 2006

Bufty said:
Were it mine, I would re-do that whole sentence - it's not the easiest of sentences to keep a hold on as one reads.

That's excellent advice. I often find awkward punctuation to be a red flag that the entire sentence is awkward.

kikonie · Oct 18, 2006

K1P1 said:
Actually, in US usage, the commas and periods are always placed inside the quotation marks, so it would be:
He liked to call it "the word," sometimes he liked to call it "bad."

In British usage, they are placed wherever it is logical, as in the original:
He liked to call it "the word", sometimes he liked to call it "bad".

...and in Canadian usage. (Does this mean we use punctuation more logically than in America?)

FennelGiraffe · Oct 18, 2006

kikonie said:
...and in Canadian usage. (Does this mean we use punctuation more logically than in America?)

Even though I'm American, I can't argue with that. The American usage drives me up the wall, and I refuse to abide by it in casual writing. It's only with great grumbling that I do so when I have to.

kikonie · Oct 18, 2006

Bufty said:
Were it mine, I would re-do that whole sentence - it's not the easiest of sentences to keep a hold on as one reads.

Though the sentence could use some fine tuning, I thought John was after a Faulkneresque effect; either that or a parody.

blacbird · Oct 18, 2006

FennelGiraffe said:
I often find awkward punctuation to be a red flag that the entire sentence is awkward.

Echo this. Learned the hard way, through having to fix crappy sentences in my own writing. Now I have to make them crappier in some other way.

caw.

John61480 · Oct 18, 2006

Yeah, I do admit, my sentences are written a bit funny. I was, however, after an effect much in the way Stephen King did along these lines. I remember he once started a paragraph and then, bam, he was off on a parenthesis with three or four sentences and then he was back out on his usual subject. It was intriguing and that is why I remember it so well because it worked for me. I thought it was a very interesting approach even though it wasn't used often.

kikonie · Oct 21, 2006

KayP said:
Parentheticals hold no periods or capitals. Punctuation always goes on the outside. If you have need of a period or a new sentence in the parentheses, then it should not be in parentheses.

That seems a little strict. Merriam-Webster's Concise Handbook for writers contains the following sentence in within parentheses within the main body of the text, ie, not used as an example:

"The common dash (also called the em dash, since it is approximately the width of a capital M in typeset material) is usually represented by two hyphens in typed and keyboarded material. (Word-processing programs make it available as a special character.)"

If I parenthesize an entire sentence in prose, it is usually because the content is either an aside to the reader, or because without the parentheses, the flow or understanding would be impeded by what would otherwise be a directional change in the content.

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