Page:The king's English (IA kingsenglish00fowlrich).pdf/300

286 our full stop?'—No; the quotation will still be part of the sentence; not indeed a noun, as before, and object to the verb; but an adverb, simply equivalent to thus, attached to the verb.

Satisfied on that point, the objector takes up our statement that the quotation mark cuts communications; a similar statement was made in the Dashes section about brackets and double dashes. He submits a quotation:—Some people 'grunt and sweat under' very easy burdens indeed; and a pair of brackets:—It is (not a little learning, but) much conceit that is a dangerous thing. 'It is surely not true that either quotation mark or bracket cuts the communications there; under in the quotation, but in the brackets, are in very active communication with burdens and conceit, outside.' The answer is that these are merely convenient misuses of quotation marks and brackets. A quotation and a parenthesis should be complete in themselves, and instances that are not so may be neglected in arguing out principles. Special rules might indeed be required in consequence for the abnormal cases; but in practice this is not so with quotations.—'A last point. To adapt one of your instances, here are two sets of sentences, stopped as I gather you would stop them:—(1) He asked me "Can a thing both be and not be?" The question is absurd. (2) He said "A thing cannot both be and not be". I at once agreed. Now, if the full stop is required after the quotation mark in the second, it must be required after that in the first, in each case to part, not the quotation, but the containing sentence, from the next sentence. What right have you to omit the full stop in the first?'—None whatever; it will not be omitted.—'So we have an addition of some importance to the monstrosities you said we should have to avoid.'—Well, sentences of this type are not common except in a style of affected simplicity.—'Or real simplicity. He saith unto him the third time, Simon, son of Jonas, lovest thou me? And is there any particular simplicity, real or affected,