Meaning of logical quotation | Babel Free

Definitions

A system of quotation in which terminal punctuation marks are enclosed within a quotation only if the sense of the punctuation is part of the original material being quoted.

uncountable

Examples

“Punctuation marks are placed inside the quotation marks only if the sense of the punctuation is part of the quotation; this system is referred to as logical quotation.”

“[S]ince at least the 1960s a common designation for that style has been "logical punctuation." ... [T]he vast majority of the legion of logical punctuators are not consciously rejecting illogical American style, or consciously imitating the British. ... [D]espite the love it gets from the masses, logical punctuation isn't likely to break through to the rule-keepers any time soon.”

“"This book uses the logical quotation system, not the misleading typesetters' quotation system. This means that quoted information does not include any trailing punctuation if the punctuation is not part of the material being quoted. The typesetters' quotation system causes extraneous characters to be placed inside the quotes; this has no effect in poetry but is a serious problem when accuracy is important. The typesetters' quotation system often falsifies quotes (since it includes punctuation not in the quote) and can be disastrously erroneous in code or computer commands.”

“[The American] system is inconsistent: Place commas and periods inside quotation marks, but semicolons and colons go outside. Em dashes, question marks, and exclamation points go inside or outside depending on whether they’re part of the context of the quoted material (shades of logical punctuation).”

“The debate about "logical punctuation" suggests two things. First, there is nothing very logical about it. As with so many aspects of language, what you use tends to be the result of a battle between what you were taught, and what you like the look of. Second, British and American English have more in common than people sometimes think.”

CEFR level