Quotation marks are another stumbling block. There is no occasion to put the name of well-known books, magazines, and newspapers in quotation marks. If you refer to Harper's Monthly the reader will get your meaning just as well without the quotation marks. Many stenographers in writing a sentence that ends with a quoted word place the quotation mark first and the period or question mark following, as:
Johnson's last words to me were: "I will accept your terms".
* * * * *
Put the period inside the fence where it belongs. This is a rule that is violated more often than it is observed, the confusion coming from an occasional exception where a punctuation mark has nothing to do with the quotation, as in the sentence:
"May we not send you a trial order of our "X Brand"?
* * * * *
Here it is plain that the question mark should follow the quotation mark. There is no excuse for the frequent misplacing of these marks, for the quoted part of a sentence invariably shows the proper position for each mark.
A chapter could be filled with errors to be avoided—only a few of the most common ones are mentioned here. This reference to them may suggest to the heads of correspondence departments the range of points to be covered in a rule book.
Some rule books go further and devote pages to faulty diction that must be avoided and print lists of words that should not be used and words that are "preferred".
The folding of the typewritten page usually comes in for a rule and instructions are generally given regarding corrections—whether the pen can be used at all or if letters must be rewritten.