Quotes, commas and periods

Here we must distinguish between venial and mortal sins. Putting the comma on the wrong side of the quotation marks, for instance, is not going to bring the house down. People who switch commas with periods, however, should be beaten until dead.

Observe:

A female fan of this author responded to a reply thus, “Thanks for letting me know so promptly. Your Excellency, Jessica.”

It should have read, “Thanks for letting me know so promptly, Your Excellency. Jessica.”

Some rules of thumb would help. Here is a short list:

1) Don’t overuse commas

It is easier to add new commas than subtract old ones.

2) Titles of articles should be in quotations

3) All other titles should be in Italics

So Robert Bork wrote Slouching Toward Gomorrah, while the Slate review is entitled, “A Senile Old Judge Loses It.”

4) “If this sentence is a direct quotation, double quotes should be used. If the ‘quotee’ is also a ‘quoteur’, single quotes would suffice. Also, note which side of the double quotes this period falls.”

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