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feedback-fowlers-rules-quotation Steward uses Fowler's rules for quotation — single quotes primary, double for nested, logical (British) punctuation-quote order. Apply across all writing.
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memory feedback cc62a4ed-b8b9-4b02-9b98-6af3f5830487
claude-memory/feedback-fowlers-rules-quotation

Steward's quotation style is Fowler's (the King's English / Modern English Usage tradition), not American convention.

Primary quotation: single quotes '…' Nested quotation: double quotes "…" Punctuation order: logical / British — only punctuation belonging to the quoted matter goes inside the quotes; punctuation belonging to the framing sentence goes outside.

Apply this to all writing in ARC and elsewhere unless the steward explicitly says otherwise.

Why: the steward's spelling comes from Canadian education (so words like organised, honour, centre appear; Canadian English mixes British and American). The punctuation choice — Fowler's / logical / single-primary — is a deliberate alignment to British convention for European-context reasons (the steward is based in Barcelona and works across the European concert circuit; British typographic punctuation is the European-aligned choice over American). The two are distinct: Canadian spelling does not entail British punctuation; the steward has chosen them separately. Both apply across the steward's work.

American "double-quotes primary, periods always inside" is the wrong convention.

How to apply:

  • When quoting a master verbatim in body prose: '…' not "…"
  • When quoting within a quote: outer single, inner double
  • Period inside single quotes ONLY when the period belongs to the quoted sentence (i.e., the quote ends a complete sentence). Period outside when the period belongs to the larger framing sentence and the quoted material is a fragment or phrase.
  • In markdown, use straight '…' — pandoc smart-punctuation converts to curly '…' automatically.

Surfaced from: 2026-05-19, during /aldine-xxi/ page rewrite. I had inadvertently used American convention (doubles primary, period inside regardless); steward corrected with "single quotes no? Fowler's rules."

Related: user-arc-british-english (the steward writes British English by default).