(203) Admissions Blog

Besides, in the twenty-first century, one has good reason to begin preferring the logical rule: consider “java.sun.com/.../win32.html”, “Create a Source File”, bullet #2, not to mention many technical and scholarly publications.

Note also that you use double-space between sentences and double-hypens instead of em-dashes, neither of which are current, standard practice, even by the “American rule”.

I would contest your point that it is not seemly to adopt the British style of punctuation due to the the apparent lack of a non-arbitrary line where we should divide which practices we should and should not adopt. I would argue that the line lies in the same name as the rule; where it is logical. Yes, we should not adopt practices just for the sake of conformity (though in the case of the metric system, I suspect the sake of conformity suffices, even aside from the fact that the system is more mathematically convenient), but there are certainly practices where there may be more method in their madness than in ours. Given, it takes an illusive set of criteria for what exactly "logical" is given the wide range of practices we differ in, but still, I would venture to say there are certain cases where it is more or less apparent that one system has more methodological consistency than the other (again, use the metric system as an example, a measure that converts across volume, length, and weight surely has more merit than one based on a monarch's appendages). I'm not necessarily saying a change needs to be made in this department, aside from yourself I do not know of many people driven towards suicide on the basis of punctuation, but perhaps there is a line somewhere that may be reasonably drawn.

I think Observer has a point about the rule in the programming context. When the exactness of quoted text is of great importance (as when communicating about programming) writers should follow the British rule; that seems obvious to me. While it likely does not warrant the American academy changing its rule entirely, perhaps at least Tina Blue should add it to her "just a letter or a number" exception.

Of course, that's neither here nor there for any YLS application essay, presumably. :)

Yield matching expectations, Asha?

Does the "When in Rome" adage also apply to students who grew up in a Commonwealth country but are applying to an American institution?

Now I am getting nervous.

I am British and in the beginning stages of drafting my personal statement.  My linguist father asked me whether I would be using British or American spelling.  I replied that I would use American as the statement was not the place to discuss the evolution of language or beat a drum about who is right or wrong.  As a scientist I know something about evolution and believe there is much cross-over from Biology to language.  “Right or wrong” doesn’t make much sense when you are discussing species and I consider the varieties of English akin to species, hence I don’t accept “wrong” spelling for words such as colour or flavor.  They are just artifacts from speciation events.

I also gave my father a more compelling reason in that I didn't want to be rejected out-of-hand by automatic error-checkers.  Do I need to make it abundantly clear that I use one of the many versions of English?  Should I use only the British mode for everything in my statement?  I suspect it will look strange if I use American spelling with British punctuation.

Are all reviewers acutely aware of the differences?  Mr. Harrison seems keen to get out the red ink for my "errors" without a moment's thought as to my upbringing.  Asha, you may make exceptions for Commonwealth citizens but Mr. Harrison appears not to want to.  Where is the consistency?

I will be 34 when I attend law school next year.  Indeed I did grow up with computers, but I also learned from my mother who was a professional typist; hence my double-spacing habit after full-stops.  Are there allowances for age?

I will be applying to Yale and other law schools.  Can I be confident the other admission teams will give me fair treatment, or will it be “simply not cricket”?

By the way, the historical reasons from the linked article are fine, but let’s not suggest that British printers didn’t care about the quality of their work!

How do you feel about Oxford commas?

Loved your additinal summary in blue and I wholeheartedly agree (despite being British!)

What if the applicant is British or has spent their entire time at university in the UK?

Also, bars don't close at 10 in the UK. It's usually 1 in Scotland, which is considered pretty early. What's really annoying is the new Scottish licensing law that requires off-licenses to stop selling booze at 10pm. Pretty much killed my local Peckham's.

Thank you for clarifying that, Asha.  I hope to write so that you won't notice anyway!

Indeed, the changes are already evident.  My hesitation when saying 'aluminum' is slowly diminishing.  The wiggly red line underneath sulphur has caused me to 'f' it.  My 'bottle of water' now sounds more like a 'boddle of warder.'  

Speaking of pubs, I can't help but feel short-measured by the US pint - you know we're right on this one!  Cheers!

Asha, if only you knew how much this error annoys me as a writing instructor! I'm currently applying to Yale, but I've worked as a writing tutor/teacher for a few years, and this error is the bane of my existence. There is not a more telltale sign that the student doesn't know what she is doing (outside of the truly egregious).

By the way, you're one of my favorite writers, and I'm seriously not just saying that to suck up. Your blogs have made me consider Yale (over Stanford) in a much more serious fashion. Thanks for all the work you do.

I don't think the British rule is as logical as it seems, anyway. Consider, for example, if a quoted sentence falls in the middle of a larger sentence. We Americans might write the following:

Was it Voltaire who said, "Guitar groups are on their way out, Mr. Epstein," or was that Talleyrand?

There would be two options under the British rule. (Presumably there's actually only one, but I'm too lazy to look it up). First, one might write this:

Was it Voltaire who said, "Guitar groups are on their way out, Mr. Epstein.", or was that Talleyrand?

I presume this is not what the British rule actually entails; it is hard to conceive of such a crime against good taste coming from the country that brought us cheddar. But this leaves the following choice:

Was it Voltaire who said, "Guitar groups are on their way out, Mr. Epstein", or was that Talleyrand?

But where's the period now?! It's gone, along with the supposed fidelity to the source material's punctuation. But if we're not going to hew to the quoted author's usage after all -- and it's clear we're not -- then the period really does just belong to the outer sentence, all the time, so we should just choose one placement and stick to it, and this is exactly what we Americans have done.

Exactly the same reasoning also upholds our usage on the question mark and the exclamation mark, since these marks would in fact be included in a mid-sentence quote on both sides of the Atlantic.