Well...

Just a quick UK grammar question: by Lily Winterwood on 2012-10-01 19:43:00 UTC Reply

What exactly do they teach you lot across the pond in regards to dialogue punctuation? I have seen a lot of Sues written by UK fanbrats who like to drop their punctuation in dialogue when it's not a question or exclamation.

I also asked on tumblr, and someone said it was because in those cases punctuation is not necessary because it isn't a question or a surprise. And yet this trend isn't widespread amongst UK writers since I know hS for one uses dialogue punctuation. So yeah, I'm curious about what is the generally taught rules of punctuation in the UK.

From my knowledge of Latin by Sevenswans on 2012-10-03 22:12:00 UTC Reply

There are many reasons that modern languages have punctuation. Latin is the only language I know of to lack spacing and punctuation, and that's because the words tell you which other words they modify. Also, Latin is hard to read when all the words are run together.

This probably wasn't helpful at all, but I tried.

No, it explains everything by SingingTheThunder on 2012-10-03 23:06:00 UTC Reply

The Mary Sues arrived two thousand years ago and ended up believing that Latin was the main language spoken on Earth. Once they found a system (the internet) that could accept their population they discovered English. They just didn't realise English had punctuation.

Well... by Cyba Zero on 2012-10-04 09:25:00 UTC Reply

...it's a good theory.

However, there is one problem with this theory. Latin has some SERIOUS grammar, probably more so than any other language I have ever encountered. It is in fact, as a result, also the most specific language (grammatically) I have run into.

There is no way the average Mary Sue could cope with that aspect of it. The average teenager struggles (because they taught it to us for a year at grammar school, and I saw - although I personally relished the complexity).

Of course, maybe Mary Sue intelligence degraded over 2k years...

It took them that long to figure it out. by SingingTheThunder on 2012-10-04 14:36:00 UTC Reply

That's why they're still with Latin rather than something more modern.

Good point (nm) by Cyba Zero on 2012-10-04 15:37:00 UTC Reply

Being another Brit... by Cassie on 2012-10-02 10:22:00 UTC Reply

*points at hS* What he said. :P
Being from the UK myself... by Cyba Zero on 2012-10-01 20:40:00 UTC Reply

...dialogue punctuation is necessary. In fact, I have recently been charging heavily for a lack of it in my current missions.

Poor Cyba and Eagrus are getting sick of comma-storms...
I think they're just being lazy by the Irish Samurai on 2012-10-01 20:32:00 UTC Reply

I'm pretty sure I was always taught that dialogue needed punctuation (my last actual English lesson was over 10 years ago now, so there is some stuff I'm genuinely uncertain about).

I've certainly noticed that trend in badfic, though I'd never gone as far as checking the nationality of the authors to see if there was a pattern.

Taking a random sample of all of the British authors I've got books for on my bookshelves shows that they all use punctuation to end their dialogue each time.
Throwing two cents in from another language entirely by Sergio Turbo on 2012-10-01 20:31:00 UTC Reply

In Italian we use a different type of marking for dialogue (hipens instead of quotation marks), but we still use full punctuation, so I'm afraid that whoever said they could be dropped has a low grasp of actual grammar.

... And from another language entirely (Hebrew) by desdendelle on 2012-10-02 10:32:00 UTC Reply

Even in Hebrew you don't drop punctuation (though Hebrew uses double quotes for dialogue like English), and it's a Semitic language. Punctuation seems to be rather universal.

As I learnt it... by Huinesoron on 2012-10-01 19:55:00 UTC Reply

... well, you already know. :P I've never heard any reasonable person say you can drop it - just badfic writers.

hS