30 March 2013

Like: FT punctuation

I like the way the FT uses punctuation marks in combination with full stops, commas and the like.

The following examples are from Lunch with the FT: Isabel dos Santos by Tom Burgis published on 29 March 2013:
“He didn’t know.” ... The tender process ... was, she says “fair”. ...
“Let’s do the bottle,” she says with a grin. ...
“It took them seven years ... otherwise they would have got the papers quicker.”
The conflict ended in 2002 and communism has long since given way to what one Angola expert calls “crony capitalism”.


I like it because it makes real sense to me. (It's also the way I punctuate my work, though I must add that it's not always understood.) It requires more thinking than the 'one rule fits all situations' approach adopted by  many style guides (including those of quality publications), but I find it intrisically pleasing.

What should we call it? The 'quotation marks inside or outside as dictated by logic' method?

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