tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377709913595182916.post5129005813035730672..comments2024-03-14T10:31:26.918+00:00Comments on DCblog: On the reported death of the full-stop / periodDChttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10192779827863835310noreply@blogger.comBlogger8125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377709913595182916.post-22690979591262423002016-06-13T11:08:51.561+00:002016-06-13T11:08:51.561+00:00The first book I edited from typescript to booksho...<br />The first book I edited from typescript to bookshop (at OUP 1979-81) was called that (<i>Making Sense</i>). Not a very ...biddable author, as I remember; my only successful editorial suggestion was to remove the first two letters from <i><b>be</b>labour the point</i>.<br /><br /><br />Carry on please...<br /><br />b@BobKLitehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00473186996974209639noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377709913595182916.post-36519232268242655042016-06-13T08:45:06.580+00:002016-06-13T08:45:06.580+00:00Today received a one-line anonymous message to my ...Today received a one-line anonymous message to my website.<br /><br />I will continue to use the period!<br />DChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10192779827863835310noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377709913595182916.post-45426154218189260352016-06-12T11:44:29.355+00:002016-06-12T11:44:29.355+00:00Actually, most f the examples I encountered when I...Actually, most f the examples I encountered when I was collecting data on this issue came from older people - my kids (youngest in his thirties), for example, and also a group of teachers in an IATEFL forum.<br /><br />Children have to learn to manage punctuation (and language in general), to understand the stylistic variation that exists, and this has to be taught. It inevitably involves some abstract instruction, and my point is that this should be grounded in the realities of what actually happens in written language. The point applies equally to spelling, grammar, and other aspects of language, of course. As I argue in the teaching section of Making a Point, and also in Spell it Out (and next year, in Making Sense - the third volume in this series, on grammar), this instruction can be judiciously introduced from the earliest days in schooling. That's how linguistic pedagogy relates to language acquisition: to relate one's personal learning and intuitions to the linguistic norms in society as a whole.DChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10192779827863835310noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377709913595182916.post-54469999584087236892016-06-12T09:24:41.523+00:002016-06-12T09:24:41.523+00:00"But the journalistic treatment reinforces my..."But the journalistic treatment reinforces my main pedagogical point: that when children are being taught about punctuation, they need to be told about the mixed usage that is part of everyday orthographic experience, and not be given (or tested on!) rules that work only some of the time."<br />As those developing and spreading these changes in punctuation usage are in fact largely children (and teenagers) who were taught such rules, how much do you think abstract instruction on this point actually matters? It seems that IM users are able to learn these practices through normal language acquisition mechanisms, so how important could abstract instruction be here? I know you've written about the importance of accurate and comprehensive abstract language instruction, though I'm not familiar with all of your opinions on the subject; where do you think that such instruction becomes useful, and where is it irrelevant due to normal language acquisition (even of formal written forms etc.)?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12889396465230234710noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377709913595182916.post-32571467426938898262016-06-11T15:53:45.716+00:002016-06-11T15:53:45.716+00:00Yes - newspapers seem to use myth-making about pun...Yes - newspapers seem to use myth-making about punctuation 'decline' as a convenient filler on a slow news day. <a href="http://harmlessdrudgery.blogspot.com/2013/03/tempora-obscuratio-mea.html" rel="nofollow">This post of mine</a> (on the apostrophe) is quite old. but I think it's worth another outing - <i>a small thing, but mine own</i>(!?!)<br /><br />b@BobKLitehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00473186996974209639noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377709913595182916.post-57358551234373273052016-06-11T13:56:57.067+00:002016-06-11T13:56:57.067+00:00No, I was just using it to end my sentence. It'...No, I was just using it to end my sentence. It's one of the ambiguities in the system that, in such a case, the printer's convention of not duplicating the full-stop (.'.) leaves it unclear what the original sentence punctuation was. Huge discussion of points like this over the years!DChttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10192779827863835310noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377709913595182916.post-58916322173546186492016-06-11T13:32:30.571+00:002016-06-11T13:32:30.571+00:00Is that last sentence meant to be ironically illus...Is that last sentence meant to be ironically illustrative? That you put the full stop after the quoted sentence implies, in British as in American usage, that the quoted sentence has no full stop.Phillip Mindenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16801818752833289089noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8377709913595182916.post-32640404124911478432016-06-11T11:32:50.518+00:002016-06-11T11:32:50.518+00:00Heh.
I did not realize, when I read the NYTimes s...Heh.<br /><br />I did not realize, when I read the NYTimes story, that I also followed your blog. I also didn't realize just how they had mangled the story.<br /><br />I agree with your more general point. When I blogged about this story, I too argued that the changes are context-sensitive:<br />http://the-digital-reader.com/2016/06/10/could-the-period-come-to-a-full-stop/Nathaniel Hoffelderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13857088642054359340noreply@blogger.com