The continued dumbing down in print media

3393RP said:
I received the new copy of Flying in today's mail, and the cover story is about Wipline and their floats. It's a good article, except for a glaring error.

The first couple of paragraphs discuss the first use of floats on an airplane, one of those being the float plane flown by "American aviation pioneer Glenn Curtis". Huh. Never heard of him. The author (or editor) compounds this folly by discussing "Curtis' pioneering flight".

The author is described a "an award winning author, business jet pilot, flight instructor, podcast host, and industry blogger". Noticeably absent from that brief CV are his qualifications as an aviation historian and the ability to properly use singular noun possessive rules.
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While we're on the subject of rules for proper English, how about the one about placement of periods relative to quotation marks?
 
My English teacher always said, "Protect the little guy." meaning, period goes inside the quotation mark.
 
Palmpilot said:
And lead vs led.
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Further on that subject, it's easy to see why people get confused about it. The past tense of the verb "lead" is "led," but the past tense of the verb "read" is "read."

No one ever said English is easy!
 
By definition, English is......oh never mind. I think I have some plants to water or something.
 
Timbeck2 said:
By definition, English is......oh never mind. I think I have some plants to water or something.
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Yeah, what do the English know about English anyway? ;)
 
Palmpilot said:
Further on that subject, it's easy to see why people get confused about it. The past tense of the verb "lead" is "led," but the past tense of the verb "read" is "read."

No one ever said English is easy!
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And the past tense of dread is dreaded.
 
I got into an email argument with one of our editors regarding the two spaces after a period. I finally told her, "My thumb has been double-tapping the space bar for over 45 years and it's not going to stop. I think you need to be more inclusive of the elderly and accept a little diversity in our style." She gave up.
 
Half Fast said:
I got into an email argument with one of our editors regarding the two spaces after a period. I finally told her, "My thumb has been double-tapping the space bar for over 45 years and it's not going to stop. I think you need to be more inclusive of the elderly and accept a little diversity in our style." She gave up.
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I was told that a period after a text is rude. I'm wondering who was so offended and had enough influence to make that claim.
 
Palmpilot said:
While we're on the subject of rules for proper English, how about the one about placement of periods relative to quotation marks?
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Place a question mark or exclamation point within closing quotation marks if the punctuation applies to the quotation itself. Place the punctuation outside the closing quotation marks if the punctuation applies to the whole sentence.

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_...uotation_marks/more_quotation_mark_rules.html

This is currently being taught at Purdue University, which is in the United States.
 
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Timbeck2 said:
I was told that a period after a text is rude. I'm wondering who was so offended and had enough influence to make that claim.
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Interesting that my Android phone automatically inserts the period whenever I put in two spaces....
 
Lindberg said:
Negative. And anytime a style argument depends on the AP style guide, you've lost.
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I'm still wondering when "anytime" and "sometime" replaced "any time" and "some time". Outlook (which I am forced to use for work), iThingies, all of them insist quite emphatically that any time I type "any time" or "some time", as in, "some time before tomorrow morning", be "corrected". I have to un-"correct" it several times a day.
 
3393RP said:
"Place a question mark or exclamation point within closing quotation marks if the punctuation applies to the quotation itself."

"Place the punctuation outside the closing quotation marks if the punctuation applies to the whole sentence."
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"Place a question mark or exclamation point within closing quotation marks if the punctuation applies to the quotation itself." I read this and agree that it's correct.

But I think it looks out of place when you say "Place the punctuation outside the closing quotation marks if the punctuation applies to the whole sentence".
 
DaleB said:
I'm still wondering when "anytime" and "sometime" replaced "any time" and "some time". Outlook (which I am forced to use for work), iThingies, all of them insist quite emphatically that any time I type "any time" or "some time", as in, "some time before tomorrow morning", be "corrected". I have to un-"correct" it several times a day.
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You can add those words to the dictionary in outlook, and you won't have to correct them.
 
Half Fast said:
I got into an email argument with one of our editors regarding the two spaces after a period.
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I, too, automatically use two spaces after a period. Autocorrect on the Homebuilt Aircraft forum eliminates the second space after a period. Fellow writers in my critique groups also tell me not to hit the space bar twice.

But the 'ol right thumb is too used to going clickety-clickety after a period.

I've taken to running search and replace to eliminate the double spaces.

Ron Wanttaja
 
bflynn said:
"Place a question mark or exclamation point within closing quotation marks if the punctuation applies to the quotation itself." I read this and agree that it's correct.

But I think it looks out of place when you say "Place the punctuation outside the closing quotation marks if the punctuation applies to the whole sentence".
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Did you hear him say "I'm Joe?"
vs
Did you hear him say "I'm Joe" ?

So did you hear someone asking a question, or did you hear someone make a statement and are being asked a question about whether you heard it or not.

I personally don't like punctuation inside of quotes unless it's what was actually quoted.
 
I've always wanted to start a thread that devolves to pages of bickering back and forth. :D

If you look closely, the quote from Purdue I posted refers only to exclamation and question marks. I was taught the same style applies to periods, which is pretty much at odds with every style guide in existence. :D

Perhaps my English professor was British.
 
3393RP said:
Place a question mark or exclamation point within closing quotation marks if the punctuation applies to the quotation itself. Place the punctuation outside the closing quotation marks if the punctuation applies to the whole sentence.

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_...uotation_marks/more_quotation_mark_rules.html

This is currently being taught at Purdue University, which is in the United States.
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And from that same reference, we find:

Put commas and periods within quotation marks, except when a parenthetical reference follows.

He said, "I may forget your name, but I never forget a face."

History is stained with blood spilled in the name of "civilization."

Mullen, criticizing the apparent inaction, writes, "Donahue's policy was to do nothing" (24).
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So what they're saying is that the rule for question marks and exclamation points is different from the rule for commas and periods. (This agrees with what I have read elsewhere.)
 
Ask a Brit sometime why they can check their shedules but don't send their kids to shool.
 
Palmpilot said:
And from that same reference, we find:

Put commas and periods within quotation marks, except when a parenthetical reference follows.

He said, "I may forget your name, but I never forget a face."

History is stained with blood spilled in the name of "civilization."

Mullen, criticizing the apparent inaction, writes, "Donahue's policy was to do nothing" (24).
​
So what they're saying is that the rule for question marks and exclamation points is different from the rule for commas and periods. (This agrees with what I have read elsewhere.)
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See my post above, I already pointed it out.
 
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