 | This is an essay on MOS:LQ. It contains the advice or opinions of one or more Wikipedia contributors. This page is not an encyclopedia article, nor is it one of Wikipedia's policies or guidelines, as it has not been thoroughly vetted by the community. Some essays represent widespread norms; others only represent minority viewpoints. |
 | This page in a nutshell: Logical and typesetters' quotation styles are not "British" vs. "American", and their use on Wikipedia is not an WP:ENGVAR matter. Using logical quotation in articles in American English is not "bad grammar", but supported by major journals, and increasing in use in the general populace. Typesetters' quotation is a loose, ambiguous style common in fiction and journalism and is not suited to encyclopedic writing. Wikipedia uses logical quotation – do not add punctuation that is not part of the original quotation – by consensus, because it is accurate. |
There is a common misconception that logical quotation (LQ) is "British style" and that typesetters' quotation (TQ, also known as printers' quotation among other names) is "American style" (despite having originated in England, and being as common in Canada as in the US). This error of overgeneralization is often promoted by published style guidelines, out of ignorance, a wish to "keep it simple", and/or even an attempt to add illusory strength to the failing position that punctuation is a nationalistic matter (this, after all, certainly helps to sell grammar books and to entrench and patrioticize views on grammar, which in turn sells yet more grammar books). There are differences between logical quotation and conventional British punctuation in mass-market publications, many of which do not agree with one another. Wikipedia itself has been criticized in the British press for asserting that LQ is British.[1]
Neither style is consistently used in the US or the UK. Erroneous partisanship is generally detrimental to understanding logical quotation, typesetters' quotation, their contexts, and the preference of Wikipedia and of an increasing number of other academic publications for logical quotation on, well, logical grounds, not nationality of editors, readership, or subjects. Wikipedia uses logical quotation because it is in keeping with the principle of minimal change to quoted material. This principle is not unique to Wikipedia, but mirrored in most style guides (even if it necessarily becomes confused and self-contradictory in those that continue to recommend TQ). The MHRA Style Guide sums it up well that with quotations, "follow the original for spelling, capitalization, italics, and punctuation".[2] That's what makes them quotations, not paraphrases.
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