quotation marks

[robj144]

Don't ask me. There are so many things which are grammatically incorrect on a forum and most reply that it's just a forum, not a professional setting. But, grammar exists for a reason. It makes text easier to read. If I see a post that has horrible grammar and I can't decipher it, I immediately skip it after a few words. I understand little errors here or there because we don't have proofreaders to check our posts and I make errors from time to time as well. But, some have no idea what are the rules of grammar, spelling, or formatting.

My pet peeve is the over use of ellipsis as though they completely replace the period or putting spaced between punctuation... you know , like this .

[Ozzy the dog]

[jhmulkey]

They shouldn't be used for emphasis (use bold, italics, or context for that), but it is acceptable to use them for irony or sarcasm:

https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/577/02/

Quotation marks may additionally be used to indicate words used ironically or with some reservation.

[guitar george]

I guess not every member of an internet forum is striving for perfect punctuation in every post. I wonder if there's an English grammar forum where all posts would have perfect punctuation?

[tbeltrans]

Originally Posted by guitar george

I guess not every member of an internet forum is striving for perfect punctuation in every post. I wonder if there's an English grammar forum where all posts would have perfect punctuation?

I doubt it because proper English grammar seems to be a moving target.

Tony

[cotten]

The quotation key on my keyboard is no longer responsive. I get nothing out of it at all. I guess I wore it out. Either that or I didn't clean up properly when I read something so funny that I spewed my milk or whatever. So I am having to be creative in avoiding situations where I need to use that key. Luckily, spell check will sometimes put an apostrophe where I need it, but autocorrect remains my worst enema.

cotten

[Rockysdad]

Okay, okay, guilty as charged. I've always stunk at grammar and such, but, I'm [I]very good[I] at math & science, so, sue me

[DCCougar]

Originally Posted by jhmulkey

They shouldn't be used for emphasis (use bold, italics, or context for that), but it is acceptable to use them for irony or sarcasm....

Right. They're scare quotes. *This* used to be used instead of bold, and -this- was used instead of italics.

[muscmp]

Originally Posted by cotten

The quotation key on my keyboard is no longer responsive. I get nothing out of it at all. I guess I wore it out. Either that or I didn't clean up properly when I read something so funny that I spewed my milk or whatever. So I am having to be creative in avoiding situations where I need to use that key. Luckily, spell check will sometimes put an apostrophe where I need it, but autocorrect remains my worst enema.

cotten

i caught that john!! ha!

play music(before and after your enema)

[Dru Edwards]

Originally Posted by fazool

I think people inadvertantly use them to imply emphasis, whereas they should use asterisks.

My thoughts too, to emphasis. Same thing with using italic. At least that's why I use them (italic more than quotes).

[Pitar]

Originally Posted by muscmp

what is with all of the unnecessary quotation marks people are putting around words?

i "think" that "they" are "like" not "needed."

play music!

Agreed. Italicizing is the correct method for drawing attention to an object word.

[guitar george]

I use them for exaggeration and doubt such as when the young guitar "expert" told me it was the "perfect" guitar.

[oxygenman]

I'm a novelist and English professor. The deterioration that I have seen in grammar, punctuation and usage over the last twenty years has been substantial. Nobody will ever convince me that texting is not partly to blame.

I can't read music and am too lazy to learn any scales that I don't already know. If a song contains, say, an E flat, I can't do anything but play the chord. I tell my students that my unwillingness to learn the E flat scale is the equivalent of their unwillingness to learn how to punctuate, say, an introductory adverb clause, and the results are similar too. They are hindering their own expression.

[PorkPieGuy]