6 Oct
2011
6 Oct
'11
1:02 a.m.
On Wed, 5 Oct 2011, Dave McGuire wrote:
What's the rule there? Comma or no comma? Is
it "this, that, and
the other thing" or "this, that and the other thing"?
I always include the comma, to avoid issues of whether the last two items
might actually be combined, like bread and butter.
But, when I was doing the Honda book (a non-computer project 30+ years
ago), my publisher insisted that I was "breaking the rule". We also
faught about "burnt valve" V "burned valve". And wherever I wrote
"tighten
til snug", he wanted to change it to "till"!
So, I changed all instances to "until".
Also, howabout a prtiod ending a sentence of which
the last component
is quoted text? Period inside or outside the double quotes?
The "rule" is that the period is SUPPOSED to go inside the quotes,
indisunirregardless of whether that conveys the correct meaning!