Punctuation

[Ze DreamGirl]

Someone here told me that in English, there's no space before the question mark. The trouble is that there is one in French and being French I have trouble remembering the English rule.

To avoid other punctuation mistakes I'd like to know if there's a space before an exclamation mark, and before the '':"'? A space after the '',''? Because there is one in French, and I'll make the mistake in English, I know it...

And how can I stop putting spaces before my question marks? (stupid thing I do automatically)...

 

[Snorunt conservationist]

Just think of those kind of punctuation as equivalent to a full stop.

 

[Ze DreamGirl]

That's actually quite simple! < is that right or do I have to put the space?

 

[Mr. Reloaded]

Simple by making space for your quotes.

 

[TabiPianist]

You can set up your autocorrect to correct to fix it for you. Personally I dont care if someone puts spaces before thier exclamations. If you want any other grammar help I'm always available.

 

[Moneyy]

That's actually quite simple! < is that right or do I have to put the space?

Yes that's correct.

 

[Ze DreamGirl]

I don't want to be considered as "'the dumb girl that keeps asking things and who can't use proper grammar''...

If I make any grammar/spelling mistakes (kindly) point them out to me please...

 

[Unpredictable-Strategist]

There's no space before any type of punctuation, but there is a space after a comma. Your sentences in the original post were perfect; don't worry too much about it. The only advice I can give you about remembering the lack of a space before a question mark is to just keep at it, and think about it each time.

 

[Ze DreamGirl]

That's what I do now. Before, i thought that every country had the same rules so I put a space before all of my question marks...lol

 

[Malanu]

Ze, follow your country's grammar rules. Better to be consistent for what your schools (college?) require than to make the board/internet lawyers happy. Not to mention it would teach us alittle bit about your native grammar.

 

[RoySceptile]

Yeah thats true

 

[Spookz]

The fact that you're asking these questions is quite admirable. Your English is much better than many native speakers, sadly, so I wouldn't worry about it a whole lot.

Also, I took French classes for 5 years (and have forgotten most of it by now, haha) and we never once talked about punctuation. I guess that just proves what a terrible education system we have here.

 

[MHugs]

No punctuation needs a space in front of it, unless of course it's in front of a the next word. Most punctuation does, however, need a space after it (the only real exceptions are hyphens/dashes, slashes, and apostrophes).

Congratulations on learning English as well as you have, seriously. I studied French for years and I still don't think I speak it as well as you speak English.

Notre grammaire, c'est magnifique. Je suis jaloux...

 

[Doodles]

In English puncuation, there is no space before "?'s" or ":'s", however there is a space after ",'s". But honestly, those are hardly "errors" I wouldn't worry about them too much.

 

[Psychic]

As mentioned, your English is quite excellent and your posts look perfect, so I wouldn't worry about it too much. That said, I also read/write French, and I have never seen a space being used before a punctuation mark, so that is strange. It might just be the formatting on your computer doing that or something. Either way, one space after will always look perfect, and I'd suggest doing it so you don't have to explain to everyone who asks why your spacing is different. But that's just my own opinion. ^^

If you have any other questions about writing, I would suggest you take them to The Authors' Café, where these kinds of questions might be better suited.

~Psychic

 

[Juputoru]

There's also Misc's very own Questions Thread, for those times when you have little questions about things that aren't punctuation.

But for writing stuff...just do what Psychic said.