Subject: ... And from another language entirely (Hebrew)
Author:
Posted on: 2012-10-02 10:32:00 UTC
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.
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.
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.
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.
...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...
That's why they're still with Latin rather than something more modern.
*points at hS* What he said. :P
...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'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.
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.
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.
... well, you already know. :P I've never heard any reasonable person say you can drop it - just badfic writers.
hS