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Thread: punctuation check

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    Default punctuation check


    I have to write an essay for my English class and my teacher is very critical of proper punctuation. Can any of you English masters tell me if my punctuation is correct in this first sentence. Does the comma go inside the quotation marks or after? Also we have a guide that says everything is suppose to be written in present tense and to me Rome is built should be Rome was built, but according to the rule "is" is the correct way. Do I capitalize Ancient? As you can tell it has been a long time since I have had any English

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    “There is no difference between communism and socialism, except in the means of achieving the same ultimate end: communism proposes to enslave men by force, socialism—by vote. It is merely the difference between murder and suicide.” Ayn Rand

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    thanks LBM for the help. The only thing is it gave an example for several things, but not for quoting a title. Just my luck I guess.

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    Am fairly sure the comma goes "after", the quotation marks.
    "Teach a man to fish = he can feed himself "
    "Teach the world to fish = you won't have any fish left to eat "

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    Quote Originally Posted by crappieseeker View Post
    I have to write an essay for my English class and my teacher is very critical of proper punctuation. Can any of you English masters tell me if my punctuation is correct in this first sentence. Does the comma go inside the quotation marks or after? Also we have a guide that says everything is suppose to be written in present tense and to me Rome is built should be Rome was built, but according to the rule "is" is the correct way. Do I capitalize Ancient? As you can tell it has been a long time since I have had any English
    Write out the sentence in question and my wife will correct if for you she is an English major.

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    creekslick, would you be willing to let me email you the essay and if she will let her look at it and check it for mistakes and let me know the mistakes. That is if she would not mind doing that. I would post it here but it is written in Micr. Word. The actual first sentence though is this. Edith Wharton’s “Roman Fever”, is centered around two middle aged widows sitting on a hotel terrace overlooking the seven hills on which Ancient Rome is built.

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    Ancient = not capitalized.....
    "Teach a man to fish = he can feed himself "
    "Teach the world to fish = you won't have any fish left to eat "

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    if its written in Micr. Word, just copy and paste it here, thats how i do all of my posts that are long.............of course if your essay is really long it may take a couple of posts.......and I belive phantom is correct on both of his above statements
    I can only wish to be as good as my dog thinks I am

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    Wink Personally .... IMHO

    ... I think there's a need for more than the one comma :p (but, not where you have it placed)

    The quotation marks, around Roman Fever, are there to note that this is a quoted title ... and should stand alone. Therefore, any punctuation marks should be place OUTSIDE of those quotation marks, because the punctuations role is to help clarify & divide seperate thoughts within the sentence. When a word/phrase/etc is enclosed in quotaton marks, consider it as though it were just ONE WORD ... and you'll see why the punctuation marks would always go outside of the quotes.

    Personally, I'd make more than one sentence out of it. Maybe something like :

    Edith Wharton’s “Roman Fever” is centered around two middle aged widows. They're sitting on a hotel terrace, overlooking the seven hills on which ancient Rome is built.

    Or, as one sentence :

    Edith Wharton’s “Roman Fever” is centered around two middle aged widows, sitting on a hotel terrace, overlooking the seven hills on which ancient Rome is built.

    :D ... OK English Majors/Teachers ... what grade would I get on these

    ... cp

    Oh, and Phantom is correct about the word ancient not being capitalized. There was never a real place known as Ancient Rome ... so the word ancient is just being used to classify the time period, not designate a specific name or place.

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    Here is something I found on line which confuses me, according to it, the comma goes inside the quotation marks. (Please note that American English likes to place the final punctuation mark inside a title or quotation, even though it doesn't form part of it. The British regard this practice as illogical. AmE: He's always wanted to read "Moby Dick," "Oliver Twist" and "The Great Gatsby." ) The comma that seperates the sentence is inside the title quotation. The best thing might be to just ask the teacher lol.

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