I forgot to mention that another proof that the single quote and apostrophe
keys produce different characters is that on the Braille display, the
apostrophe appears as dot 3, while the single quote, if placed before a word,
appears as dot 6, dots 2-3-6, and if placed after a word, appears as dots
3-5-6, dot 3. Even in computer Braille for BT users, they have different
keystrokes. The apostrophe is still dot 3, but the single quote (also called
the "grave accent") is dot 4 (lower case).
Further, perhaps I should give an example for what I was explaining about the
purpose of using single quotes whenever appropriate, instead of replacing them
with apostrophes that serve a different purpose. Look at the following
sentence:
Polly explained, "I asked Jinji if she wanted to come with us but she said, `I
can't leave the house 'cause the teacher of my twins will come to speak with
me. She told me that we needed to talk about my boys' behavior in class, as
well as their failing grades,` and so I said I'll just invite her again next
month."
You will see better what I'm pointing out through this example if you have a
Braille display to check it with. I used single quotes in the above text.
Now, imagine that I used apostrophes in their place. Since the text supposedly
enclosed within single quotes contain words that have an apostrophe at the
start ('cause) or end (boys'), the flow of reading will be disrupted.
Although one can tell from the context that some apostrophes are used to quote,
while the others for a contraction or a possessive form of a plural noun,
seeing the apostrophe again after the first one denoting the start of the
quoted text could make the reader, pause, go back a couple of words and re-read
them just to check what the second or third apostrophe was denoting. This may
take just a few seconds, yes, but the point is, there is disruption of the
flow, something that is avoided when single quotes are used where appropriate.
HTH,
Roselle
>----- QUOTED MESSAGE -----
>Sent by: "Roselle Ambubuyog" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Paul,
>Even regular computer keyboards have the single quote key (JAWS says "grov" I
>think, and when you press it with the SHIFT key, you get the tilde). It's
>usually located above the TAB key, to the left of the 1 key. Sadly though,
>many people, no matter how long they've used a computer, are not familiar or
>aware of the purpose of this key. This is definitely different from the
>APOSTROPHE key to the right of the SEMICOLON key which gives you the double
>quote when you press it with the SHIFT key.
>Press the single quote key and the apostrophe key on your computer keyboard,
>then ask a sighted person to describe them to you. They look different. The
>apostrophe, but this is only true on the computer, appears like a short
>vertical line located on the upper part of a line of text. If you want to
>have a feel of how it looks, write dots 4-5 in Braille. The double quote
>looks like two of these, that is, short, parallel, vertical lines beside each
>other, like dots 4-5 in two consecutive Braille cells.
>On the other hand, the single quote looks like a short diagonal line, from the
>upper left to the lower right (which is the reverse of what Josh had
>described). THE backslash is like that, too, as you pointed out. However,
>the single quote is shorter. For a feel of how it looks, the single quote is
>like the letter e in Braille, meaning, like the apostrophe, it's in the upper
>part of a line of text. Meanwhile, the backslash is like a letter e (dots
>1-5) followed by dot 3; in other words, it's longer and is as tall as the rest
>of the characters in a line of text. Therefore, you cannot say that the
>apostrophe is the same as the single quote, especially based on the way they
>look in computer Braille.
>As for the difference in use, you may find electronic text where instead of
>the opening and closing single quotes, the apostrophe is used. Let me tell
>you that this is wrong, and personally, I find that very irritating. The
>apostrophe is used in contractions like 'twas (for "it was"), don't (for "do
>not"), and d' (for "do"). It is likewise used to form possessives like in
>"Paul's BrailleNote" and "the students' BrailleNotes". It is not part of its
>function to enclose quoted text. Why? Because it can cause confusion.
>When you see an apostrophe before a word, you may start thinking that it's a
>contraction. For example, the contraction for "because" is 'cause (that's an
>apostrophe before the word "cause"). But there may be a quoted text that
>starts with the noun or verb "cause" which the writer wants to enclose in
>single quotes (sometimes, this is done to stress the text within single
>quotes, and it is not really something quoted so double quotes are not the
>appropriate punctuations to use). If an apostrophe was used in such a case,
>the reader will not automatically recognize that the word appearing as 'cause
>is not the contraction of "because" but the start of a text being highlighted.
>Similarly, seeing an apostrophe after a word, where a closing single quote is
>more appropriate, will also cause confusion. The reader may think, especially
>in cases where the last word in the text ends with s, that you are forming its
>possessive. Let's say the last word of the text within single quotes is
>"boys". Using an apostrophe rather than a closing single quote will make it
>seem that the word following it is something that the boys own/possess.
>If I were a QT user, I wouldn't want the single quote key to be missing on the
>keyboard for the reasons stated above about its purpose. I hope this clears
>things up.
>HTH,
>Roselle
