Something that annoys me

[noerrorsfound]

Example 1:
Type the command "start," or type the command "help."

Being inside the quotation marks makes the comma and period seem to be part of the commands.

In American English, commas and periods must ALWAYS be inside the quotation marks. I don't see the logic in this. It actually seems stupid.

That was once true for British English also, but it was changed. For some reason American English kept the rule.

Although in British English, just like in American English, you still have to place them inside if you are quoting a full sentence at the end of the sentence you are writing. If that doesn't make sense, look at the next example.
Example 2:
The person said, "I like playing games."
In this example, I agree that the period should be inside the quotation marks, but in the first example it doesn't make any sense for the comma and period to be placed where they are.

[Spartan Erik]

Example 1:
Type the command "start," or type the command "help."

Being inside the quotation marks makes the comma and period seem to be part of the commands.

In American English, commas and periods must ALWAYS be inside the quotation marks. I don't see the logic in this. It actually seems stupid.

That was once true for British English also, but it was changed. For some reason American English kept the rule.

Although in British English, just like in American English, you still have to place them inside if you are quoting a full sentence at the end of the sentence you are writing. If that doesn't make sense, look at the next example.
Example 2:
The person said, "I like playing games."
In this example, I agree that the period should be inside the quotation marks, but in the first example it doesn't make any sense for the comma and period to be placed where they are.

I definitely agree; our English teacher was very anal about punctuation inside quotation marks.. why it's like that, I'll never know. Ideally punctuation should be outside quotation marks, it would make life easier!

[dillbertdabomb]

If your not in school why does it matter

[azntechguy]

Trust me, if you're working someplace where good English is essential, you have to care.

I agree about the archaic rule, it's kinda awkward. But hey, that's convention! Tough it out.

[red one zero]

Chalk that up on the list of messy English rules that don't quite make sense. There's a whole lot. I'm just glad that I learned English as a first language so I don't have to think too much about them; English is supposed to be a pretty hard language to learn.

[dyfuse]

I agree with red one zero, english grammar and all the rules you have to remember - like "i" before "e" except after "c" - it's too much to remember and too many rules...

Punctuation inside the quotation marks...thinking about it now...it can actually be frustrating in some respects...thinking that you are supposed to say a period/full-stop in you sentence in speech:

"I am typing a reply." >> I am typing a reply period


Well, it's become 'convention'...so we can't say too much about school teachers 'drilling' into us about making our sentences 'complete'. But like Koshimi said about commands like "start" and "help."...there's no way that that'll be less frustrating than periods inside quotation marks - it's become convention.

A point aside: Have you guys ever noticed the "log off" window that pops up on Win XP after deciding to log off (especially noticeable in networks setup)?

It says: "Are you sure you want to log off?"

The only problem is that it is a question, but the answers (buttons) are "log off" and "cancel". Imagining answering: "Are you sure you want to log off?" with "Cancel"

[clareto]

As a native spanish speaker, I think english is not as hard to learn as spanish is. Spanish is by far more complex than english. However, many of the rules that the Spanish Language Royal Academy adopts, have not a theoretical argumentation background. Many of the rules are adopted just because people feels comfortable writing or speaking this or that way. And in fact, people writes and talks following the Academy rules, and the Academy adopt the way people writes and talks. Its something like a positive feedback.

In the specific quotation arguing, I can tell you that in spanish we write the period an the comma AFTER the quotes. If you start writing that way, after some time people will feel that it is the 'normal' manner to do it (you have a little power to do it, since you're a web or desktop developer and many people will see what you write. It would be ideal if you were a newspaper writer). I dont know if I will be in the jail for this, but I will always write the period and the comma after the quotes.

[dillbertdabomb]

And when is english going to help you?

[tanzy]

lolz
A lot of fight going on but i agree with DILBERTDABOMB

[edunie]

you all think that english is hard to learn because you never studied portuguese =O it has TOO MANY rules, like "use m before p and b", that's strange.
that without verb conjugation, THAT'S hard.