Back in school, they were prominent in exercises to convert direct speech into indirect. Then and always, they stood for someone saying something. Never would have I called them “perverted” quotes.
Now they are dying. According to The Economist, “in the 1970s, 94% of Booker-nominated novels used them, compared with just 72% in the past decade”. The inverted comma is being “sighted less; slighted more”. Blame it on James Joyce, the Irish writer. He was the one who had called them “perverted” and dropped them from his Ulysses. A more recent Irish writer, Sally Rooney, does not “see any need for them”. Her three bestselling books are devoid of the inverted comma. The Booker-winner Orbital does not use it either. The Economist thinks, and I boldly quote using the right punctuation, “punctuation is not merely a semantic marker but a social one. Largely inaudible and completely invisible in everyday speech, its correct usage can be acquired only through years of (often expensive) education. Punctuation thus marks not just texts but people. Those who know, or think they know, whether a full stop should go inside or outside inverted commas join an elite intellectual aristocracy. Though it is best not to brag about it: the line between stupidity and pretension is fine”. Wait a minute! Before I hunt for my non-existent membership card to the “elite intellectual aristocracy” club, let me ask the modern-day intellect. ChatGPT assures me that they are still relevant. “They're not old-fashioned per se, but their usage—and the stylistic norms around them—can vary depending on the context, the region, and the writer’s goals.” Yes, that’s an authentic ChatG statement; notice the em dash? Inverted commas, ChatG explains patiently: 1. helps distinguish the spoken from the narration; 2. clearly indicates borrowed words; and 3. highlights an ironical or nonstandard usage. ChatG warns that while dropping the quotes “can create a smoother, more immersive experience, it demands more from the reader”. How dare one demand more from the scrolling, swiping, fleeing reader! ChatG recommends not skipping the inverted commas in professional and academic writing as that “would be jarring and could reduce clarity or credibility”. Now that we were friends, I asked ChatG to write a short passage with and without quotation marks. In a jiffy! And then went on to explain the differences in clarity, rhythm, tone and ease of comprehension. ChatG closed with a piece of advice: “If you’re writing something more introspective, poetic, or stylized, skipping quotation marks can create a certain aesthetic. But if you're aiming for clear communication—especially for general audiences—it’s safer to use them.” I shall lay my hands on those books sans quotes and learn. But, before that, is there a ChatGPT version of Wren and Martin?
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