Re: [PATCH] Fix a typo in git-maintenance documentation

From: Derrick Stolee <stolee@gmail.com>
Date: Mar 19, 2021, 18:37 UTC
Message-ID: <8a73d5c2-831c-8e9e-5f21-2f8ef24dfa42@gmail.com>
In-Reply-To: <xmqqv99nm3jy.fsf@gitster.g>

On 3/19/2021 1:55 PM, Junio C Hamano wrote:

Show 7 quoted lines

> "Nils Leif Fischer via GitGitGadget" <gitgitgadget@gmail.com>
>>  gc::
>>  	Clean up unnecessary files and optimize the local repository. "GC"
>> -	stands for "garbage collection," but this task performs many
>> +	stands for "garbage collection", but this task performs many
> 
> Isn't this merely an American style vs British style issue?

Yes, I believe so.

> https://www.grammarly.com/blog/quotation-marks
> https://www.thepunctuationguide.com/british-versus-american-style.html
> https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/punctuation/quotation_marks/more_quotation_mark_rules.html

Specifically, this quote from your first link:

  Commas and periods always go inside the quotation marks in
  American English; dashes, colons, and semicolons almost always
  go outside the quotation marks; question marks and exclamation
  marks sometimes go inside, sometimes stay outside.

The only time I break this is when the exact string matters, such as referencing an exact command with options. In those cases, I try to restructure the sentence to avoid having a comma or period outside of the quote.

Thanks, -Stolee