# Grammar Punctuation Question

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-punctuation-question/501951>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 5, 2009, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-punctuation-question/501951 "2009-07-05T02:34:50Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![633squadron](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/ee59a6/32.png) [@633squadron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/633squadron)\
**Post date:** [July 7, 2009, 1:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-punctuation-question/501951/21 "2009-07-07T01:07:49Z")

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> [@Casserole](#):
>
> Wikipedia has a blurb about it, but doesn’t go into detail as to “why” this rule is so.  
> **Rule** : In a quote spanning multiple paragraphs, it is correct to place quotation marks at the beginning of each paragraph, and only at the end of the last paragraph.

It is, as others have said, a matter of style. The computer programmer in you is going nuts over something that doesn’t have a formal logic to it, in the way that most computer languages do. Writing is so much more complex than any computer language could ever be (Goedel was _right!_), and to try to understand it from a purely logical viewpoint is impossible.

Besides, it’s not _right_ in the sense that a program is “right” if it compiles. It’s just a matter of style. Editors will tell you it’s right, but they’re not exactly right themselves.

I’m a technical writer, and I loathe editors who are more concerned about style than they are about meaning.

However, I do pit you for posting YAGQ (Yet Another Grammar Question) to SDMB, thus letting loose the yammerings of the writers, editors, and other lovers of ephemeris upon us. Good heavens, they’re worse than economists!😃

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**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\
**Post date:** [July 7, 2009, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-punctuation-question/501951/22 "2009-07-07T02:13:50Z")

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> [@633squadron](#):
>
> However, I do pit you for posting YAGQ (Yet Another Grammar Question) to SDMB, thus letting loose the yammerings of the writers, editors, and other lovers of ephemeris upon us. Good heavens, they’re worse than economists!😃

Hey! I heard that! We are not!

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