Author Topic: quoting excerpts  (Read 4207 times)

jeanne

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quoting excerpts
« on: September 28, 2010, 06:57:32 AM »
Hello Mr. Carillo,

Thank you for generously sharing your expertise and knowledge, and for taking the time to answer my previous posts. 

For this topic, I am quite unsure as what would be most proper when you quote an excerpt of a published work, particularly involving cases in spelling.  For example:

In the original work or text, "I could starve and die before I could eat such things, yet they were sweet and savory to my taste."   The word savory follows the American spelling.  But say, you are writing for the British audience.  Would it be okay to change the word into "savoury" without violating any copyright rules or offending the writer?

Thank you in advance for your reply.

Joe Carillo

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Re: quoting excerpts
« Reply #1 on: September 28, 2010, 08:17:24 PM »
You’re welcome, Jeanne. It’s always a pleasure to reply to perceptive grammar questions like yours.

When quoting excerpts from published work, it’s always good policy and good practice to follow the spelling and stylebook of the publication where the published work originally appeared. In the case of the word “savory” in the quoted sentence you presented, it’s best as a matter of courtesy to retain its spelling regardless of the target audience of the publication where the material is to be quoted. (I’m not sure, though, whether “savoury”—with the “u” after “o”—is, in fact, specifically British spelling; all I know is that the word can be spelled “savory” or “savoury” regardless of whether the British or American standard for English is being used.)

Copyright rules may not necessarily be violated when changes of spelling are unilaterally made by those who quote material, but when such changes are so numerous and extensive, they could possibly mess up the material to a point of no longer being faithful to the original. This could pose problems to literary historians and archivists in the future, so it’s highly advisable for those who quote to stick to the spelling and stylebook of the original work. 

We must take note, though, that when a book originally written in the British English standard is published specifically for readers in the United States, American publishers often adopt the American English standard for the entire work, from spelling to punctuation marks. In particular, British words that end in “-re” (like “centre”) are rendered with an “-er” ending (like “center”) in the American edition of the book, and single-quote punctuation marks for dialogue and quoted material in the British edition are rendered as double quotes in the American edition. In turn, publishers in the United Kingdom sometimes do the reverse for the British edition of books originally written in the American English standard. Either way, publishers normally provide a note about the spelling and punctuation changes in the preface or copyright page of the particular edition.
« Last Edit: September 28, 2010, 11:31:08 PM by Joe Carillo »

jeanne

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Re: quoting excerpts
« Reply #2 on: September 29, 2010, 02:20:18 PM »
Again,  thank you for your explanation and insight.  Your site is truly a big help.