ravi wrote:
>
> [clip]
>>
> since i moved to the USA, i have noticed that periods and such
> punctuations are included within quotes: trembling with fear, the gentle
> nobel peace laureate kissinger cried, "these protesters are being mean
> to me." i shudder at this style, preferring instead: bush explained to
> the confused audience that "compassionate conservatism is about
> compassion for the silliness of conservatism".
It has to do with printing house practices when type was set by hand. In the U.S. you would have a single slug (I think that's the word) of type, thus: ."
In England you would have a single slug of type, thus: ".
Incidentally, with questions or exclamations it has to be decided by each instance:
He said, "Are you going?"
Did you say, "Are you going?"?
But again let me emphasize we are in the realm of aesthetics and etiquette, not of basic linguistic convention. All these distinctions disappear in speech.
Carrol