Hi again, Paul!  This is a continuation of my previous message to you:   
      
              Just got some more ideas re using single quotation marks as you   
   have been.  There is an advantage for others who may wish to cite your work,   
   in that they can just add double quotes onto the beginning & the end of   
   whatever you've said.  But who would receive the most benefit from it??  Folks   
   in the "publish- or-perish" business who may be using double quotes as *their*   
   default... [BEG].   
      
              Seriously, though, such people have resources we don't have.  We   
   are limited to what can be done with a standard keyboard.  From that POV we   
   can all learn from whatever a well-trained stenographer has to say on the   
   subject.  :-)   
      
      
      
   PQ>  I see the colon as a mistake.  This is as a result   
   PQ>  of doing a lot of reading in my early formative years   
   PQ>  (something I don't do any more except for on-screen   
   PQ>  manuals, etc).  I used to read a lot of biographical   
   PQ>  works & sci-fi novellas   
      
      
              IOW you've never read a lot of plays and/or written a lot of   
   essays, as English majors tend to do.  The colon is okay AFAIC... [chuckle].   
      
      
      
   PQ>  and this taught me to make use of the comma before   
   PQ>  launching into dialogue and recitation.   
      
      
              In general, yes... that's how I was taught.  Nowadays I tend to   
   omit it sometimes because I had a university instructor... probably USAian, I   
   guess, based on what I learned in later years... who criticized me for using   
   "too many commas".  Brits tend to use commas with greater frequency than   
   USAians do.  :-)   
      
      
      
   PQ>  I don't know about Aussie English.  I'm not the   
   PQ>  typical 'bloke from OZ', though some insurance   
   PQ>  company representatives and telephone survey   
   PQ>  operators try to tell me that I still fit their   
   PQ>  mould.   
      
      
              Ex-Brit Canadians are an endangered species, apparently, where   
   years ago they were in the majority.  I notice differences in the way things   
   are done hither & yon precisely because... while I live right next to the   
   States & visit there often... I grew up on magazines sent to my family by   
   various relatives in the Old Country.  I'm not typical either.  But IMHO I   
   have some unique insights to offer as a result... and so do you.  I'm   
   convinced you know a lot more about Aussie English than yours truly.  Everyone   
   in E_T has his or her talents.  If I forget the names of the verb tenses in   
   English I know there are at least half a dozen Fidonetters in Russia who would   
   gladly bail me out.  They know this stuff because they learned English as a   
   foreign language.  It's easier & more fun for me to ask them for advice than   
   to dig out my old French & Latin textbooks.  ;-)   
      
      
      
   PQ>  Oh, and I failed at Grade 10 English and have the   
   PQ>  certificate to prove it still.  But that was a   
   PQ>  lifetime ago.   
      
      
              In this part of the world at least, there is a fairly steep   
   learning curve between grade nine & grade ten.  If you relocated in Australia   
   around the same time and/or didn't like being chained to a desk while your   
   English teacher droned on & on about technicalities which were of little   
   interest to you at the time that's quite understandable to me.  It's also   
   quite possible that you just weren't developmentally ready for the stuff when   
   you were expected to learn it. I was very happy when I discovered at   
   thirty-five that I could play softball as well as the average ten-year-old.    
   When I was growing up, PE class (i.e. active sports) was a nightmare for me.    
   Perhaps I'm a slow learner in that department. But I'm comfortable in my own   
   skin now... and I think that's what matters.  :-)   
      
      
      
      
   --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+   
    * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)