On Mon, May 17, 2010, Ted Harding wrote: > .de FRpunct > .char \[lq] \[Fo]\h'0.25n' > .char \[rq] \h'0.25n'\[Fc] > .char : \h'0.2n':\h'0.2n' > .char ; \h'0.2n';\h'0.2n' > .char ? \h'0.2n'?\h'0.2n' > .char ! \h'0.2n'!\h'0.2n' > .char \[em] \h'0.2n'\[em]\h'0.2n' > .. > > NOTE: I have put in rather narrow extra space, because the > text-boxes corresponding to the PPT slides are a bit cramped > for space at times, and using wider spaces tends to cause > the formatting to collapse. > > With that caveat (and the possibility, for more general use, > of using wider spacing -- 0.5n? 1n?), I would be grateful for > comments on the suitability of the above definitions. > Are they complete? Should any be different?
You haven't left anything out that I can see. In terms of your spacing definitions, the only thing you should be aware of is that the colon needs a larger space before it than the others. Expressed in terms of wholespace and halfspace, the colon would be wholespace : <wordspace> while everything else--say, a question mark-- would be halfspace ? <wordspace> Note that there really isn't any need to define the space *after* the punctuation; normal wordspacing applies. I'm assuming you're not translating into Canadian French, which has slightly different rules. One last thing (I don't know if this applies): in dialogue, guillements enclose the *whole* conversation, while the tiret (em-dash or longer, with a space after it) is used to indicate new, or a change of, speakers within it. -- Peter Schaffter
