# Amateur Grammar Authorities

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateur-grammar-authorities/521117>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [December 13, 2009, 5:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateur-grammar-authorities/521117 "2009-12-13T17:49:09Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 18

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**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\
**Post date:** [December 14, 2009, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/amateur-grammar-authorities/521117/18 "2009-12-14T08:48:16Z")

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> [@Olentzero](#):
>
> I believe that only applies to reported speech.

> [@friedo](#):
>
> “Nope.”

Compare:

_“Did you call your mother on her birthday?” my wife asked yesterday. I shook my head and muttered “Nope.”_

with:

_More informal versions of the negative answer “no” are “nah”, “nuh uh”, and “nope”._

First sentence: reported speech.  
Second sentence: not reported speech. The period clearly belongs outside the quotation marks here.

Do please try to avoid the one-word _bon mots_ in the future, dear chap; they’re best fit for gay cocktail parties on the lawn and convivial evenings at the supper club rather than discussions of grammar and punctuation. And then only if you’re Oscar Wilde.

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