[mallumowgli]

Originally Posted by SilentEngine

Hello guys,
British:
We all love our automobiles, that's why we are here in "Team-BHP".

American:
We all love our automobiles, that's why we are here in "Team-BHP."

Notice the difference in the placement of the period. This difference also applies to the position of commas.

In the example given by you, the period (or full-stop, as I've been taught) is always required, as given in the first sentence. (The quotes itself is not required here) But the difference comes when there is a sentence within quotes
eg. My friend said, " I always log into Team-BHP." or My friend said, "I always log into Team-BHP".

Iam confused about this. But an even more interesting example shall be as below

My friend asked, " Are you a member of Team-BHP?"

The question is whether I need to put a full-stop at the end of the sentence
My friend asked, " Are you a member of Team-BHP?".

@Gansan - Specifically Palakkad Iyer Tamil is unrecognisable (remember Kamalahassan in Michael Madana Kama Rajan?), so is the normal Tamil/Malayalam spoken by people towards the west of Thuckalay in Kanyakumari District

[SilentEngine]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

SilentEngine, there is a rule/method to whether the punctuation goes before or after the quotation mark. I've forgotten it --- and sometimes put both, to be on the safe side!*

*Which would be very wrong. Recently, in discussing the complete gibberish published as a concert review in The Hindu, Somebody gave a link to The Economist Style Guide. It's fascinating. Here's what it has to say about quotes.

Thanks for that link, it somewhat explains the rule. However it contradicts with this site:
Quotation Marks | Punctuation Rules

As i said before, it is because of differences in US and British English.

Originally Posted by mallumowgli

In the example given by you, the period (or full-stop, as I've been taught) is always required, as given in the first sentence. (The quotes itself is not required here) But the difference comes when there is a sentence within quotes
eg. My friend said, " I always log into Team-BHP." or My friend said, "I always log into Team-BHP".

Iam confused about this.

I think the second one is correct, or at least that's what i have been using so far.

But an even more interesting example shall be as below

My friend asked, " Are you a member of Team-BHP?"

The question is whether I need to put a full-stop at the end of the sentence
My friend asked, " Are you a member of Team-BHP?".

In case of a question mark, it depends if it part of the quote or not. So in your case,
My friend asked, " Are you a member of Team-BHP?" should be correct. I don't think you need to put another full-stop at the end.

[mallumowgli]

Both links given by Silent Engine and TEG are not contradicting. And clarifies my confusion. Thanks, both of you

[Thad E Ginathom]

Thanks SilentEngine, for the additional material.

[Thad E Ginathom]

Revisiting the word Literally.

Literally means not metaphorically and is only used when what you are saying would otherwise be taken as a metaphor.

It was raining cats and dogs --- it was raining (the usual water ) very hard.

It was literally raining cats and dogs --- Actual cats and actual dogs were falling out of the sky.

If you find yourself using the word for emphasis, or to express surprise... Don't!

It was so hot that the thermometer literally burst! --- Wrong! Thermometers do not metaphorically burst: nobody will misunderstand you if you say, "It was so hot that the thermometer burst".

[vivekiny2k]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Revisiting the word Literally.

It was so scary I literally jumped out of my skin

[Thad E Ginathom]

... And your wife said, "usually it is clothes; today you expect me to clear up you skin off the floor!"

[silversteed]

Of late, I've noticed my sis using this word so frequently that I started counting it and giving her an update every five seconds or so, while talking

"I was talking to Joe, and he was like, we need to be more careful"

"Shall I take the bus, like, from Sterling road to LIC..."

"I told dad about the problem. He was like..."

"... Like... We'll go for the movie and then to the hotel..."

What's the origin of this usage? It's not just her, I've noticed many people having the tendency to fill a pause with "like"

[mallumowgli]

The 'like' phenomenon is not limited to our country. Listen to any conversation by any PYTs in the US, you will hear in very very frequently. And our Indians use it like a fashion accessory!!

In the west it is used in direct speech, indicating surprise

eg :
I was like " what are you doing?" instead of
I asked him incredulously, " what are you doing?"

@Thad - this 'literally' is a Chennai fad I think. My eyes literally popped out!
Hope it didnt fall into my cup of coffee

Another Chennai phenomenon :in front of almost all apartments " Visitors vehicles please park outside" Am still thinking how somebody could come up with such a phrase and how it came to be accepted by all!!

[silversteed]

Originally Posted by mallumowgli

In the west it is used in direct speech, indicating surprise

True. But this one's like "literally", "basically", "anyways" Probably as a fashion.

My eyes literally popped out!
Hope it didnt fall into my cup of coffee

Eye-rish Coffee eh?

[Thad E Ginathom]

Originally Posted by mallumowgli

Another Chennai phenomenon :in front of almost all apartments " Visitors vehicles please park outside" Am still thinking how somebody could come up with such a phrase and how it came to be accepted by all!!

How about valet parking? Would be great, if only I had a valet!

Literally, is certainly forumwide, Indiawide, and, I fear, worldwide!

And, while I'm here, let me flog another dead horse (literally? )...

Only a turtle can turtle.



A car cannot be turtled (Even my Firefox Spelling Checker knows the word does not exist!) . Turn turtle is, I think, an acceptable metaphor, but, like all metaphors should not be overdone. There is a good, ordinary descriptive word: roll. That's why cars are never fitted with turtle bars!

(bull bars, turtle bars: it's an idea I suppose. Any other animal car parts? But I'm rambling now!)

Like

"Hey, man, that was, like, far out!" If your remember Neil, from the TV series The Young Ones, you will know how that should sound, and, embarrassing as it is, how it did sound when many of us said it thirty or forty years ago. Then teenager took it over, and it became almost a synonym for said.

He was like do you know what literally actually means and I was well like who cares like who are you tell me to tell me what it means and he was like I don't think this is a good idea and I was what am I dating anyway a dictionary and he was like well he just walked out.

Teenage girl talk. The absence of punctuation is intentional. I used to know teenage twins who could have said that in two seconds or less, all but the first and last words being a blur. I found that their sentences, somehow, would unwind in my mind. Even their mother was impressed at how I managed to understand them!


.

[vivekiny2k]

Originally Posted by Thad E Ginathom

Teenage girl talk. The absence of punctuation is intentional. I used to know teenage twins who could have said that in two seconds or less, all but the first and last words being a blur. I found that their sentences, somehow, would unwind in my mind. Even their mother was impressed at how I managed to understand them!


.

talking of speed, I saw a young mother who put her baby in a swing and started talking. I think the little one was trying to learn talking but at that speed she was just speechless (literally), staring at her mother with eyes open wide.

[esteemer]

I've got my English 1 exam tomorrow.

Need help for the following questions :

Use the appropiate word to fill in the blanks :

1. I'm alive ___ the danger.
2. England is alive ____ America.

A briefing about the usage of this 'alive of/to' phrasal verb would be really helpful.

[Thad E Ginathom]

This is like the old days on Usenet, where the requests for a Unix shellscript of given functionality were always met with the response, "Do your own college homework"!

At least you're honest about it!

I hate questions like this, because I always want to take issue with the question setter. "I'm alive to the danger", maybe, but who would write that, apart from English test setters. "I'm aware of the danger".

Does it have to be of or to? Neither makes sense to me in "2".

[esteemer]

Thad Sir

I asked this here only because even my teachers and parents were not sure about the answer, and no Grammar book could help me.

I'm not even sure if 'of' or 'to' have to be used. These were suggested by my teachers.

Thanks a lot

I'll be asking some more teachers before I sit for the exam today.