User talk:128.49.33.164

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Hi! (I wonder whose page this could be!) The following has also been posted at user talk:Tastyummy in response to a rant from your IP address:

I won't reciprocate your lesson on what is necessary for me with one on what is necessary for you, but I do have a few suggestions:
1. If you'd like to argue that my uses of punctuation marks break "rules", and particularly those observed on Wikipedia, perhaps you'll find the Wikipedia:Manual of Style a useful reference. The following may be found there:


Inside or outside
Punctuation marks are placed inside the quote marks only if the sense of the punctuation is part of the quotation (this system is referred to as logical quotations).
  • Correct Arthur said that the situation is “deplorable”. (When a sentence fragment is quoted, the period [full stop] is outside.)
  • Correct Arthur said, “The situation is deplorable.” (The period is part of the quoted text.)
  • Incorrect Martha asked, “Are you coming”? (When quoting a question, the question mark is inside because the quoted text itself was a question.)
  • Correct Did Martha say, “Come with me”? (The very quote is being questioned, so here, the question mark is correctly outside; the period is omitted.)


I'll gladly correct errors if you point them out, and you're welcome to correct them on your own instead of lecturing me. However, I will revert edits that turn grammatically- or stylistically-satisfactory sentences into unsatisfactory ones.
2. The sentences
"When using quotations, the punctuation goes INSIDE the punctuation marks."
and
"It's great that you're so 'verbally competent,' but proper punctuation is also required to appear literate."
evidence the relatively small measure of "verbal competency" in their author's possession. Here's why:
The subject of the first sentence is "the punctuation". "When using quotations" modifies that subject, whose predicate is "goes inside the punctuation marks". Thus, I could write "The punctuation, when using quotations, goes inside the punctuation marks". Do you see why this doesn't make sense?
(And do you see why I didn't have to put the period from your sentence inside the quotation marks I just used? The entire sentence is part of the sentence encompassing it and beginning with "I could write [...]". "Write" is often a transitive verb. One often writes something, and the quoted sentence is, in this example, the thing being written.)
Perhaps you should have written "Punctuate inside of quotation marks", since, I think, you meant to write an imperative sentence.
The second sentence has two subjects with distinct predicates, which itself is fine. The first subject is "It" (from "It's great that [...]") and the second is "punctuation". The "you" from "you're", though, is something else. The first part of the sentence could be replaced with "That you're so 'verbally competent' is great, but [...]", and the second needs the word "you" in it somewhere. Otherwise, it is punctuation that is required to appear literate. ("Hey, punctuation! You know, you have to go over here to look literate!")
3. Grow some balls and sign your posts if they're about my English, or at least study it yourself before making yourself look stupid. (Of course, remember, this is only advice. I wouldn't even pretend to know what you "need" to do.) You might also consider the hypocrisy of your advice about my ego before adding any more.
Have fun,
Tastyummy 20:45, 11 June 2007 (UTC)