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Punctuation in a quote

 
 
DK
 
Reply Mon 14 Mar, 2016 08:18 pm
My question concerns how to punctuate a quote in which the person being quoted lists their own self. They are listing people who will serve on a committee and the speaker lists their own title and then says, "me" and continues on through the list
Example: "Members of the committee will be the president, me, vice president, treasurer and a member of the community,"
The person being quoted is the president. Sort of like, "Members will be the president (That's me!), vice president . . .".
I've tried it a few different ways and it hasn't looked right in any instance.
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Type: Question • Score: 3 • Views: 1,853 • Replies: 7

 
Roberta
 
  5  
Reply Mon 14 Mar, 2016 10:33 pm
@DK,
I would handle it this way:

"Members of the committee will be the president (me), vice president, treasurer and a member of the community."
DK
 
  1  
Reply Tue 15 Mar, 2016 07:42 am
@Roberta,
Thank you, Roberta. That's how I'll do it. That's one I hadn't encountered yet.
0 Replies
 
trover
 
  1  
Reply Wed 16 Mar, 2016 12:49 am
@DK,
Informally, Roberta's answer is fine. More correctly/formally, you could write: "Members of the committee will be the President, me; the Vice-President; the Treasurer, and a Community Member". We often forget that "in a list", it can be of individual words or of phrases or anything that requires Internal Punctuation. (Here, I am using some Capitalization to emphasize words that I would accentuate if I were Speaking). The first thing to do, when one of the Set/Series of items has internal punctuation, is switch from commas to semi-colons. In this case, by adding "me", you have internal punctuation. Titles of officers should be capitalized and by writing "Community Member", you can " Honor with Capitalization" all participants and keep things shorter. The "member of the community", when reading your list, Feels just as important as the officers in the exchange/consensus. It is always foremost to keep language easily understood; in that regard, shorter, when Clear, is better. I know that I got a little "carried away' with this answer; sorry. This is ONE (Ha!) of my Things!
Setanta
 
  2  
Reply Wed 16 Mar, 2016 02:04 am
The capitalization of titles is a matter of style, and not the subject of any rules. The trend in English usage, at least in the United States, over the last few decades, has been not to capitalize the words in job titles, committee titles, and matters which are, essentially, informal. So, for examples: "Mr. Barack Obama, President of the United States," but "The vice president of operations convened a committee of department heads with an interest in the new project." This is English, not German.
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Setanta
 
  1  
Reply Wed 16 Mar, 2016 02:06 am
This style, by the way, can easily be seen in Roberta's sensible handling of the question.
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Roberta
 
  2  
Reply Wed 16 Mar, 2016 02:47 am
@trover,
I agree that semicolons would work here. However, I was trying to keep things simple, and the parentheses aren't wrong.
ossobuco
 
  1  
Reply Wed 16 Mar, 2016 05:15 pm
@Roberta,
Listen to Robbie or I'll have to snuff you.

Kidding of course, but she is fair smart on all this.
I throw around semicolons like they are ice cream cones, but I am not to be trusted.

Also, welcome, Trover.
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