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Grammatically Correct: The writer's essential guide to punctuation ...

Grammatically Correct: The writer's essential guide to punctuation ...

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GRAMMATICALLY CORRECT<br />

Revised quotation: Researchers believe that the reading of Kana [the<br />

Japanese phonetic script] and Kanji [the Japanese logographic script]<br />

characters may tap in<strong>to</strong> different brain processes.<br />

Note that the bracketed material may appear either before or<br />

after the text it is qualifying, as appropriate. Also, when the text<br />

within brackets is a comment or clarification, it does not have <strong>to</strong><br />

mesh grammatically with the rest of the sentence.<br />

• You may want <strong>to</strong> work a fragment of a quote in<strong>to</strong> a sentence<br />

of your own, but need <strong>to</strong> alter it slightly so that it fits grammatically.<br />

Original quotation: A waiter might as well serve one on a dirty plate as<br />

a journalist offer such untidy stuff as: <strong>The</strong> University of London Press hopes<br />

<strong>to</strong> have ready the following additions <strong>to</strong> their series of . .. -Fowler's<br />

Modern English Usage<br />

Revised quotation: Another authority, Fowler, admonishes journalists<br />

against"[ offering] such untidy stuff as: <strong>The</strong> University of London Press<br />

hopes <strong>to</strong> have ready the following additions <strong>to</strong> their series of . .. "<br />

• If you have dropped part of a quotation by using an ellipsis<br />

and are picking it up again in the middle of a sentence, you may<br />

prefer <strong>to</strong> present the partial sentence as if it were complete-that<br />

is, capitalize it. If you do this, some formal styles of writing require<br />

that you enclose the opening capital letter in brackets <strong>to</strong> indicate<br />

that it did not appear this way in the original.<br />

Original quotation: It need hardly be said that shortness is a merit in<br />

words. <strong>The</strong>re are often reasons why shortness is not possible; much less<br />

often there are occasions when length, not shortness, is desirable. But<br />

it is a general truth that the short words are not only handier <strong>to</strong> use, but<br />

more powerful in effect; extra syllables reduce, not increase, vigour.<br />

-Fowler's Modern English Usage<br />

Revised quotation: It need hardly be said that shortness is a merit in<br />

words .... [S]hort words are not only handier <strong>to</strong> use, but more powerful<br />

in effect; extra syllables reduce, not increase, vigour.<br />

• You may wish <strong>to</strong> highlight something in a quote, either because<br />

you feel it holds particular significance or because it makes some<br />

point that you want <strong>to</strong> dissociate yourself from. One way <strong>to</strong> do<br />

this is <strong>to</strong> italicize the relevant text and then follow it with the<br />

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