To quote or not to quote - CSRNation2024-03-29T12:50:05Zhttp://csrnation.ning.com/forum/topics/to-quote-or-not-to-quote?commentId=1736041%3AComment%3A1084330&feed=yes&xn_auth=noThank you everyone for the re…tag:csrnation.ning.com,2009-09-20:1736041:Comment:10848812009-09-20T19:54:12.021ZHeatherhttp://csrnation.ning.com/profile/Heather
Thank you everyone for the responses! I'm glad to see that all my fretting over this topic wasn't just that I was lost, lol. Seems like there's no straight-forward answer. I took a little bit from different suggestions and tried to stay consistant. I ended up using quotes where he was clearly reading something on the document. Just seemed like it didn't read right without them. Hopefully my proofer won't be yanking her hair out correcting me, lol. Allison, I totally know what you mean about…
Thank you everyone for the responses! I'm glad to see that all my fretting over this topic wasn't just that I was lost, lol. Seems like there's no straight-forward answer. I took a little bit from different suggestions and tried to stay consistant. I ended up using quotes where he was clearly reading something on the document. Just seemed like it didn't read right without them. Hopefully my proofer won't be yanking her hair out correcting me, lol. Allison, I totally know what you mean about Case making things screwy. Eclipse does some stuff like that too. This is more like I would do…tag:csrnation.ning.com,2009-09-20:1736041:Comment:10848382009-09-20T18:02:33.156ZDeborah M.http://csrnation.ning.com/profile/DeborahMeyers
This is more like I would do it. And I've been doing this for 20 years and I still struggle with it too, so don't feel bad, Heather!
This is more like I would do it. And I've been doing this for 20 years and I still struggle with it too, so don't feel bad, Heather! Heather, I've got to tell you…tag:csrnation.ning.com,2009-09-20:1736041:Comment:10847372009-09-20T15:09:32.981ZVeronica Kubathttp://csrnation.ning.com/profile/VeronicaKubat
Heather, I've got to tell you. After 25-plus years doing this, quotes still kill me. Glad to see you out here working.<br />
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Veronica
Heather, I've got to tell you. After 25-plus years doing this, quotes still kill me. Glad to see you out here working.<br />
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Veronica Mary Jo, I had never heard of…tag:csrnation.ning.com,2009-09-20:1736041:Comment:10847002009-09-20T10:20:46.693ZJennie Annhttp://csrnation.ning.com/profile/Jennie
Mary Jo, I had never heard of Morson's until a few years ago, but I have seen it referenced many times by others in the industry. When I went to court reporting school, we were told to use Diane Castilaw's "Court Reporting Grammar and Punctuation." Today, I do a great deal of Federal Government work, and I am supposed to use the GPO Style Manual.<br />
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With all of the above said, I find what I deem as "flaws" in all three of the above-referenced style guides.<br />
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Working for a variety of companies in…
Mary Jo, I had never heard of Morson's until a few years ago, but I have seen it referenced many times by others in the industry. When I went to court reporting school, we were told to use Diane Castilaw's "Court Reporting Grammar and Punctuation." Today, I do a great deal of Federal Government work, and I am supposed to use the GPO Style Manual.<br />
<br />
With all of the above said, I find what I deem as "flaws" in all three of the above-referenced style guides.<br />
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Working for a variety of companies in my younger work life, I learned very quickly that there is truly no right and no wrong on MANY issues when it comes to punctuation. I do not use ellipses, but there are many who do. I would NEVER -- and I emphasize NEVER, NEVER, NEVER -- type a syllable of a word, but I have read on this forum that there are some who do. I cannot ever bring myself to put the quotation mark before the period, but there are some who were trained to do it that way. I put a space before and after the double hyphen or dash, and there are many who do not put a space before and after the double hyphen.<br />
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Funny thing about Hill committees/subcommittees, each one has their own likes and dislikes when it comes to punctuation. Senate Finance Committee style states one must write out the numbers, like $1,000,000 for $1 million and $1,000,000,000 for $1 billion and $78,000,000,000,000 for $78 trillion. Then there are some committees who want the States (always initial-capped when referring to a State, as is Federal Government) written out and others who only want the acronym used. So it is either Annapolis, Maryland, in the transcript or Annapolis MD in the transcript. Notice the comma after "Maryland." Some people do insert a comma there, and others don't. The same holds true for "Inc." I was trained to insert a comma after "Inc." within a sentence, and I have seen it without the comma MANY times. Example: Miller Reporting Company, Inc., is located in Washington, D.C." (Yes, I put periods in "D.C." and use a comma after "Washington" for a specific reason, which is another style preference).<br />
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I have developed my own style sheet for "my" jobs. This way, when people are sharing a job with me, we will all be singing from the same song sheet. The spoken word does not come out of a person's mouth like camera-ready copy, and I believe one must be able to adapt their style. Of course, if you work for one entity and one entity only, it's pretty easy to adapt to that style. When I used to do court work, we ALWAYS had a period after the Q and A. Some courts require the Q and A to be flush left. I see Q's and A's located 5, 10, and 15 spaces in from the left margin today.<br />
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The point of my post is that I believe what separates the lions from the lambs in this industry is the capability to adjust your style to the style of the entity you are working for. I cannot tell you how many people I have given my style guide to follow, and they seem to just do it their way and don't make any effort to follow the style guide I provided them.<br />
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I applaud Heather and every single person like her who takes the time to inquire. It shows they have good work integrity and want to do a good job, as opposed to racing against the clock and seeing how many pages they can spit out in an hour. Phil, I'm not going to argue…tag:csrnation.ning.com,2009-09-19:1736041:Comment:10844172009-09-19T16:50:06.552ZMary Jo Cochranhttp://csrnation.ning.com/profile/MaryJoCochran
Phil, I'm not going to argue with you because it really serves no purpose - only for one person to be right and for one to be wrong.<br />
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I graduated from CR back in 1981. There was book published specifically for court reporters back then. That book was AWFUL.<br />
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In some of that stuff up above, yes, it does look like it should have quotes. I agree with that - and I said so.
Phil, I'm not going to argue with you because it really serves no purpose - only for one person to be right and for one to be wrong.<br />
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I graduated from CR back in 1981. There was book published specifically for court reporters back then. That book was AWFUL.<br />
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In some of that stuff up above, yes, it does look like it should have quotes. I agree with that - and I said so. Hi Heather,
I'm kinda new my…tag:csrnation.ning.com,2009-09-19:1736041:Comment:10843302009-09-19T14:54:10.247ZAllison Fowlerhttp://csrnation.ning.com/profile/AllisonFowler
Hi Heather,<br />
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I'm kinda new myself, and I've been finding myself having the same trouble. I think, to me, the most important thing is to be consistent....and in a way, that's my problem because I change my mind a lot about what I think is right.<br />
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Another thing that bothers me (I'm sure Case users have noticed this..) When I go to put the quotation, for example quote blah, blah, blah period end quote..Case makes a space and then puts the end quote on the following sentence...and this always…
Hi Heather,<br />
<br />
I'm kinda new myself, and I've been finding myself having the same trouble. I think, to me, the most important thing is to be consistent....and in a way, that's my problem because I change my mind a lot about what I think is right.<br />
<br />
Another thing that bothers me (I'm sure Case users have noticed this..) When I go to put the quotation, for example quote blah, blah, blah period end quote..Case makes a space and then puts the end quote on the following sentence...and this always throws me off and makes me feel like I'm doing something wrote! The second thing is that all the quotes on Case look like they're pointing right...so it always looks strange to me to be outside the period..this has thrown me off many times..it just seems like Case is so advanced, so why are these little things still not fixed? I don't know, maybe it's just me.<br />
<br />
Allison Morson's Rule 97 says, "When…tag:csrnation.ning.com,2009-09-19:1736041:Comment:10843282009-09-19T14:25:27.055ZPhil Stillermanhttp://csrnation.ning.com/profile/Phil57
Morson's Rule 97 says, "When a witness testifies to his own words or those of someone else in the form of a direct quote and believes those words to be accurate, use quotation marks, even if the speaker does not render the quote perfectly."<br />
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I extend that rule to documents.
Morson's Rule 97 says, "When a witness testifies to his own words or those of someone else in the form of a direct quote and believes those words to be accurate, use quotation marks, even if the speaker does not render the quote perfectly."<br />
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I extend that rule to documents. Here's the "quote" from Encar…tag:csrnation.ning.com,2009-09-19:1736041:Comment:10843142009-09-19T12:17:49.150ZMary Jo Cochranhttp://csrnation.ning.com/profile/MaryJoCochran
Here's the "quote" from Encarta Dictionary.<br />
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repeat somebody's exact words: to repeat or copy the exact words spoken or written by somebody<br />
- refer to something for proof: to refer to something as an example in support of an argument<br />
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(I quoted it too, word for word).
Here's the "quote" from Encarta Dictionary.<br />
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repeat somebody's exact words: to repeat or copy the exact words spoken or written by somebody<br />
- refer to something for proof: to refer to something as an example in support of an argument<br />
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(I quoted it too, word for word). When I am in doubt and/or if…tag:csrnation.ning.com,2009-09-19:1736041:Comment:10843102009-09-19T10:01:25.550ZJennie Annhttp://csrnation.ning.com/profile/Jennie
When I am in doubt and/or if the speaker does not follow the document I have in hand, then I definitely will use a colon. At the court reporting school I went to in the '70s, that is how they tought us to handle speakers who do not quote EXACTLY from the document.<br />
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Example: I want to read you a passage: Four score and seven years ago, our fathers carried forth, upon this country, a new nation.<br />
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As you might notice, the above-referenced quote is not an EXACT quote from the Gettysburg Address. So…
When I am in doubt and/or if the speaker does not follow the document I have in hand, then I definitely will use a colon. At the court reporting school I went to in the '70s, that is how they tought us to handle speakers who do not quote EXACTLY from the document.<br />
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Example: I want to read you a passage: Four score and seven years ago, our fathers carried forth, upon this country, a new nation.<br />
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As you might notice, the above-referenced quote is not an EXACT quote from the Gettysburg Address. So I used a colon before it began. That's the way I was taught, and I still use that method a lot today in my work.<br />
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Your examples, I would punctuate like this:<br />
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<b>And it says -- obviously, at the top, it says Office of the District Attorney, County of Sacramento. Then it says directed to Sacramento Police Department, and then it's got a name. Do you see that it says a "Kirsten Ross"?<br />
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And to the right of that, it's got a lab number. Do you see that? It's got a "08-003760"?<br />
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And then, the next line below, that is Date Analyzed, 4/16/08.<br />
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And then, below that, it's got -- there's a title that says Blood Alcohol Report. Do you see that?<br />
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And then, the next line below that is Date Analyzed, 4/16/08.</b><br />
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I believe that comma placement would be helpful to the reader of the document. Again, I do use a colon sometimes in cases if I do not have the document or if the speaker is not quoting word for word from the document. I also initial-cap titles sometimes, depending on how it is used.<br />
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Anyhow, that's how I would handle it. I'm sure you could receive a dozen or more different ways to punctuate that. ;-) Mary Jo, I like the way you'r…tag:csrnation.ning.com,2009-09-19:1736041:Comment:10841062009-09-19T02:00:59.332ZPhil Stillermanhttp://csrnation.ning.com/profile/Phil57
Mary Jo, I like the way you're thinking, but I believe that the rules for quotations indicate that if the speaker believes the words to be true, or states that the words are true, then it should be in quotes.
Mary Jo, I like the way you're thinking, but I believe that the rules for quotations indicate that if the speaker believes the words to be true, or states that the words are true, then it should be in quotes.