Did Trump really rail about money for the WALL? That’s the question Yahoo News asks:
Did he rail or didn’t he rail? Perhaps he just asked the question, “Where is the money for … the WALL?” And perhaps the editors at Yahoo don’t know where a question mark goes when quoting an actual question. Here’s a hint: Before the closing quotation mark.
If you think a comma goes before a closing quotation mark, and never after, you might just be an American. ‘Cause that’s the way we punctuate here in the U. S. of A. If you think it goes after, then you might be thinking like the rest of the English-speaking world and like this Yahoo! Beauty editor:
In the U.S., two punctuation marks always go before a closing quotation mark: comma and period.
When writing this headline, did the Yahoo! Finance editors really “go bonkers”?
Did they forget that a question mark goes before a closing quotation mark only when the quoted matter is a question?
Based solely on this sentence from Yahoo! Style, would you call the author a “good writer“? Would it matter to you that she doesn’t know where to place a question mark? Because this blogger isn’t feeling so good right about now. And neither are the readers of this sentence:
“Based on a true story?” That’s the question that yahoo.com asks:
Of course, that makes no sense, because the entire headline is actually the question. For some reason the editor made a common mistake (at least it’s common on Yahoo!) by placing the question mark before the closing quotation mark. In the U.S., a comma and period go before a closing quotation mark; a semicolon and colon go after. If you’re looking to place a question mark, put it before the closing quote only if the entire text inside the quotation marks is a question. Otherwise, it goes after the closing quote mark.
It’s not a huge mistake, but it’s worth mentioning: The Yahoo! Tech writer should swap the location of that colon and quotation mark:
In the U.S., only two punctuation marks always go after a closing quotation mark: the colon and the semicolon.
It’s a short question, and it may mean something to a Yahoo! Style reader, but to me it’s nonsense:
Prom? That’s the question? Uh, no. The question is: Are these kids too young to be dressing up for ‘prom’? The entire headline is a question, not just the word in the quotation marks.
Sometimes I think the editors at yahoo.com are just stuck on stupid. They keep repeating the same mistakes. A few days ago, they couldn’t agree on how to refer to a Mexican drug lord. And today, they’re faced with the same issue. Is his name simply El Chapo?
Or is it Chapo and does it require quotation marks?
I’m thinkin’ that maybe the editors don’t know that they’re in disagreement because even they don’t read yahoo.com.
Displaying once again that the people who write for yahoo.com have no means to communicate with each other, someone decides that a drug lord’s nickname needs to be in quotation marks:
while a colleague decides the punctuation is unnecessary:
It doesn’t matter which one the writers and editors chose. They should just pick one style and go with it. But first, they need to establish a way to communicate their decision. I hear there are communication methods like telephone, email, instant messenger, and tin cans connected by a string. One of those might work.
What could possibly be wrong with this headline on Yahoo! Parenting?
The punctuation. Two punctuation marks never go before a closing quotation mark: a colon and a semicolon.
Terribly Write 