The Importance of Correct Punctuation

[Desdichado]

EDIT: The context of my job is to know what professional standards are. Just like anything else, there are no standards for amateurs. So, yes, you may use two periods after sentence. I can't stop you. If you do, you are labeling yourself an amateur. I can say that authoritively.

Unless you work for the MLA, or some other authoritative spokesgroup for professional standards, then no, you don't. And incidentally, the MLA doesn't agree with you.

 

[reveal]

Unless you work for the MLA, or some other authoritative spokesgroup for professional standards, then no, you don't. And incidentally, the MLA doesn't agree with you.

I was about to say the same thing. The MLA has been around since 1883. You'd think they'd know what they're doing but, according to Abstraction, they don't. It's a shame, too. So many people rely on them to create professional looking papers. Those poor, silly amatuers.

 

[reveal]

EDIT: The context of my job is to know what professional standards are. Just like anything else, there are no standards for amateurs. So, yes, you may use two periods after sentence. I can't stop you. If you do, you are labeling yourself an amateur. I can say that authoritively.

And by stating something that flies in the face of a highly regarded, highly esteemed, professional organization like the MLA and trying to pass your opinion as fact, you are labeling yourself as pompous.

 

[Dingleberry]

I can say that authoritively.

Stuff like this cracks me up.

 

[Hijinks]

I would hope that the focus of paralegal training is "making it clear and understandable" as opposed to "follow strict rules of grammar and punctuation."

It's rather funny, actually. My friend has been told for years of schooling (she's gone part-time to an internet school) that her writing is "fine," "great," and even "outstanding," when in reality it's pretty bad, by English major standards (which I was). She would send me papers to edit; I'd edit and send them back asking her to please PLEASE please fix x thing and y thing because they are SO against grammatical standards, and she'd say things like "Oh, my teacher doesn't care about those things, he cares about the legal argument and blah blah." I tried to tell her that her writing style would not fly in regular circles, but she'd continually tell me that it didn't matter, since legal writing is "so much different," and that she didn't need to learn to write "correctly."


NOW, though, she's having to take a composition class and she's sending me emails daily, begging me to help her with basic grammatical issues. For example, this week I taught her about the passive voice and how to rewrite sentences with active verbs instead of passive.

It's kind of gratifying to see her eat her words. Just a tad bit.

 

[Dingleberry]

I tried to tell her that her writing style would not fly in regular circles, but she'd continually tell me that it didn't matter, since legal writing is "so much different," and that she didn't need to learn to write "correctly."

Of course, certain legal writing (briefs, journal paper, etc.) requires that a HOST of additional rules be strictly followed. I can't begin the count the number of hours I spent in years past working out the intricacies of the almighty Bluebook.

 

[reveal]

Of course, certain legal writing (briefs, journal paper, etc.) requires that a HOST of additional rules be strictly followed. I can't begin the count the number of hours I spent in years past working out the intricacies of the almighty Bluebook.

Court rules can take forever to look through and understand, that's for sure. (I'm assuming that's what you're talking about )

 

[Dingleberry]

Court rules can take forever to look through and understand, that's for sure. (I'm assuming that's what you're talking about )

That's definitely one of the better examples.

 

[Dingleberry]

(Wow, 500 posts in 3 1/2 years. Now I'm really rolling!)

 

[Abstraction]

The MLA is hardly the authority. Person reads it, types it how they like, then submits it to a prepress professional. First thing prepress professional does? Universal search-and-replace for two spaces to one. Several other universal searches, too.

The authority in the design world is the Chicago Manual of Style. It was the Bible at the last advertising agency I worked at. It was referenced before, but I will post it again:

http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/cmosfaq/cmosfaq.html

So, to summarize, all the available references about whether you can use two spaces after a period say one of two things. Either "Don't do it," or "Try not to do it." So please stop saying that it's all just a matter of taste. It's all a matter of having taste.