Why do non-1st language English speakers put a space between their punctuation marks?

Frozzy · January 5, 2003, 02:23

I see a number of people who do not speak english as a 1st language put spaces between the last word and the punctuation mark (often a question mark)

e.g. Why does Apolyton have banana as their abstain option in polls ? Is it because bananas are cool ?

Not saying they speak bad english, just wanted to know if they are taught this specificall or if it's because that's what their native language does.

Oerdin · January 5, 2003, 02:57

It is a joke from a really old thread that has just kind of stuck. Do a search and you might still find it.

Frozzy · January 5, 2003, 03:07

No... I read e-mails from French with this space/

alva · January 5, 2003, 03:20

h e i s t a l k i n g a b o u t t h e b a n a n a . ! R i g h t ?

Inverse Icarus · January 5, 2003, 03:31

no idea.

is america the only country to use periods instad of commas in numbers?

eg: $1,000 not $1.000

Oerdin · January 5, 2003, 03:36

All the English speaking countries do. I think it's only certain contential European states which don't.

Inverse Icarus · January 5, 2003, 03:39

next questuion: numbers.

how come places like china/japan use abarbic numerals today? what did they use before?

Dis · January 5, 2003, 03:50

What sick person would put spaces in front of their punctuation ?

Skanky Burns · January 5, 2003, 04:13

Quote:

Originally posted by UberKruX
is america the only country to use periods instad of commas in numbers?

eg: $1,000 not $1.000

Yes, America is the only country to do this.
Elsewhere, the dot is used to mark the decimal point, as it does.

Dis · January 5, 2003, 04:16

I think that is backwards.

Skanky Burns · January 5, 2003, 04:32

Indeed.

Oerdin · January 5, 2003, 05:00

Naw, everyone else is backwards.

Datajack Franit · January 5, 2003, 05:49

Someone please show us the banana thread!

Puupertti Ruma · January 5, 2003, 05:56

Quote:

Yes, America is the only country to do this.
Elsewhere, the dot is used to mark the decimal point, as it does.

You probably ment that comma is used to mark the decimal point, no?

Ted Striker · January 5, 2003, 06:10

tag ,

Mein Schwanz ist ein grosse Banane !

danke

Ted Striker · January 5, 2003, 06:16

JEANNY, WO BIST DU!?!?!

Ted Striker · January 5, 2003, 06:16

WO BIST MEIN GROSSE BANANE!?!?!

Oerdin · January 5, 2003, 06:19

Quote:

Originally posted by Datajack Franit
Someone please show us the banana thread!

I couldn't find it with the on site search engine but maybe someone else might be able to. As long as you're going to be delving into Apolyton's past you might also want to enquire about area 19 a.k.a. the G-Spot.

Urban Ranger · January 5, 2003, 06:28

Quote:

Originally posted by UberKruX
next questuion: numbers.

how come places like china/japan use abarbic numerals today? what did they use before?

Chinese characters. What else?

Speaking of which, Chinese characters are still used in formal writings for numbers.

Dauphin · January 5, 2003, 08:01

Quote:

Originally posted by Puupertti Ruma

You probably ment that comma is used to mark the decimal point, no?

I think everyone is confused.

English speaking countries usually use the comma as a '000 seperator and period as a decimal point: e.g 1,352,562.632562
Curiously commas do not appear after the decimal point.

It can get very confusing for Anglos when you you see €5,36 - or €5.000 - the second being more expensive than the first.

Kassiopeia · January 5, 2003, 08:04

English people use quotation marks 'strangely'.

They write like this:
"This is a model sentence," he said.

Whereas, at least Finns, write:
"Tämä on mallilause", hän sanoi.

I tend to use Finnish punctuation rules when writing English, and I guess it isn't a big deal since no one has complained about it.

Dauphin · January 5, 2003, 08:07

No we don't, the comma comes after quotation marks if at all.

Provost Harrison · January 5, 2003, 08:07

I didn't know you put the comma before the closing of quotes...hmmm.

Well there is the alternative: use spaces to separate 000s which saves the confusion all round

1 000 000 000.8937897324

or, if you are really strange 1 000 000 000,8937897324

Oerdin · January 5, 2003, 08:09

S.D. is right. Unless the comma was in the original quote then you don't put it in the quotation marks. Or you're not supposed to any way.

Kassiopeia · January 5, 2003, 08:10

SD, PH, odd. I think every single book I've read has this way of punctuation.

I'll have to go and check...

Quote:

1 000 000 000,8937897324

That's how Finns would put it...

Dauphin · January 5, 2003, 08:15

Quote:

I think every single book I've read has this way of punctuation.

Its an American influence, and so the books probably American. English and English influenced nations are logical with their grammar.

Edit - did a search and found this.

http://www.grammartips.homestead.com/inside.html

Kassiopeia · January 5, 2003, 08:41

Quote:

Its an American influence, and so the books probably American. English and English influenced nations are logical with their grammar.

From the Oxford Dictionary and Usage Guide to the English language, bought from a little quaint shop in the Lake District:

Quote:

The comma at the end of the quotation, when words such as he said follow, is kept inside the quotation, e.g. 'That is nonsense,' he said. The commas on either side of he said, etc., when these words interrupt the quotation should be inside the quotation marks, e.g. 'That', he said, 'is nonsense.' But the first comma goes inside the quotation marks if it would be part of the utterance even if there were no interruption, e.g. 'That, my dear fellow,' he said, 'is nonsense'.

And yes, this book does separate American and British spellings, and favours the latter...

Then again, from SD's link:

Quote:

Since most of my international students were taught in schools that followed the British system, I tell them to continue placing their commas and periods as they were taught.

Oh well. I suppose a Finn has no business arguing with a Brit about grammar.

Provost Harrison · January 5, 2003, 09:00

Why bother with commas with quotations, I mean, some issues of punctuation are so complicated, and quite frankly, superfluous...

Dauphin · January 5, 2003, 09:15

Most people don't even bother with question marks for questions anymore, do they.

Buck Birdseed · January 5, 2003, 09:56

Periods and brackets then?

I put the period outside the end bracket if it's pat of a sentence (like this is).

(If it's a complete sentence, I put the period inside the brackets.)