Which is correct?

[Claw75]

No need to consult google, random books, or anything else.

The comma belongs outside of the quote. Unless, of course, Mr Bannantyne used it, in which case it belongs inside.

The inverted commas are intended to faithfully repeat what was said, or written. So it could be either - but it must reflect what was originally said or written.

the trouble is we don't know what follows.  Should there be a full stop after 'bannatyne' or does he go on to complete a sentence?  if the latter, are you happy with the comma inside the quotes?

[Claw75]

what's the answer then MW?

[Jon MW]

It was a newsletter headline - technically it should have a full stop at the end but the convention is to leave them out

[kinboshi]

No need to consult google, random books, or anything else.

The comma belongs outside of the quote. Unless, of course, Mr Bannantyne used it, in which case it belongs inside.

The inverted commas are intended to faithfully repeat what was said, or written. So it could be either - but it must reflect what was originally said or written.

Agree with this.  Like I said, it depends...

[tikay]

No need to consult google, random books, or anything else.

The comma belongs outside of the quote. Unless, of course, Mr Bannantyne used it, in which case it belongs inside.

The inverted commas are intended to faithfully repeat what was said, or written. So it could be either - but it must reflect what was originally said or written.

the trouble is we don't know what follows.  Should there be a full stop after 'bannatyne' or does he go on to complete a sentence?  if the latter, are you happy with the comma inside the quotes?

It's irrelevant. The quoter DOES know what followed, as he quoted it.

If there was a comma originally, then it's inside. If not, it's outside.

[kinboshi]

No need to consult google, random books, or anything else.

The comma belongs outside of the quote. Unless, of course, Mr Bannantyne used it, in which case it belongs inside.

The inverted commas are intended to faithfully repeat what was said, or written. So it could be either - but it must reflect what was originally said or written.

the trouble is we don't know what follows.  Should there be a full stop after 'bannatyne' or does he go on to complete a sentence?  if the latter, are you happy with the comma inside the quotes?

It's irrelevant. The quoter DOES know what followed, as he quoted it.

If there was a comma originally, then it's inside. If not, it's outside.

Unless it's the daily mail or the sun.

[Claw75]

It was a newsletter headline - technically it should have a full stop at the end but the convention is to leave them out

I probably wouldn't have used a comma at all in that case

[Jon MW]

what's the answer then MW?

3 magazine editors said the comma should be inside (and generally google does also), and the 2 IT people (me and my boss) said it should be outside.

So that didn't look promising - but we have greater resources than that to draw on, we asked someone studying for an English degree at Kings College, London what she thought. Her first instinct was that it should be outside; but she checked her textbook (written by one of her professors) - and that agreed, the comma should be outside.

I think it was pretty much as was suggested, there is a difference between the American and English convention, but because American is so pervasive that's the rule that people will find if they look it up online.

 - and more broadly, what Tikay said is why the American's are wrong (unless their is some odd reason why the comma actually was part of what was originally said - but if that was the case then it should have '...' after it, so it'd still have been wrong)

[tikay]

No need to consult google, random books, or anything else.

The comma belongs outside of the quote. Unless, of course, Mr Bannantyne used it, in which case it belongs inside.

The inverted commas are intended to faithfully repeat what was said, or written. So it could be either - but it must reflect what was originally said or written.

the trouble is we don't know what follows.  Should there be a full stop after 'bannatyne' or does he go on to complete a sentence?  if the latter, are you happy with the comma inside the quotes?

It's irrelevant. The quoter DOES know what followed, as he quoted it.

If there was a comma originally, then it's inside. If not, it's outside.

Unless it's the Daily Mail or the Sun.

FYP.

Please, Dan, on a thread about grammatical pedantry, even though we have a healthy & mutual lack of respect for those two odious organs, we should write their title correctly.

[Laxie]

Don't suppose she has a spare copy of that textbook thrown about?  Knew my teachers were mostly rubbish.

[Claw75]

Unless it's the daily fail or the scum.

FYP.

Please, Dan, on a thread about grammatical pedantry, even though we have a healthy & mutual lack of respect for those two odious organs, we should write their title correctly.

fyfyp

[The Camel]

I voted after, but on thinking about it I really don't see the need for a comma in that sentence.

And this comes from a massive overuser of the comma.

[TightEnd]

Don't suppose she has a spare copy of that textbook thrown about?  Knew my teachers were mostly rubbish.

I don't suppose she has a copy of that textbook I could borrow, does she? I knew my teachers were for the most part rubbish.



Fixed your post, Dawn.

[Claw75]

Don't suppose she has a spare copy of that textbook thrown about?  Knew my teachers were mostly rubbish.

I don't suppose she has a copy of that textbook I could borrow, does she? I knew my teachers were for the most part rubbish.



Fixed your post, Dawn.

could use a couple of commas tbf.

[Jon MW]

I voted after, but on thinking about it I really don't see the need for a comma in that sentence.

And this comes from a massive overuser of the comma.

The real twist is that, not only is the comma in the wrong place, and not only (as you and Claire have pointed out) is there no need for the comma to start with, but Bannatyne didn't even use those words. They paraphrased him - i.e. they shouldn't have been using quotes either

Laxie's teacher's may have been rubbish - but not as rubbish as journalists are