Thanks to Doug Whiddon, who correctly pointed out one possibility I
 missed in the first Free Tips.  Sometimes, you don't need to include
 the attribution if the context surrounding it would make it clear who
 is speaking.

   In such a case, the paragraph may bear a superficial resemblance to
 one of the errors I pointed out.  For instance:

     Akane smiled.  "Ranma, you are an idiot."

   This looks, at first glance, to break not one, but two of the rules
 I posted.  It is, however, totally correct.

   James Champagne also was correct in pointing out that there are
 different standards for British English than American English.  I
 can only speak with authority on the latter.

   He was also right in saying that some of the rules (in
 particular, the "quote by making noise" rule) could be flexible in
 the hands of a skilled author.  Here's a piece of advice:  Go over
 the last five fic posts you've made to the ML.  If you managed to get
 that far without violating any of the standards, then you're ready to
 get artistic about things.  Until then, consider your poetic license
 suspended.

   This actually can be considered to apply to virtually any rule in
 the English language.  The only one that is considered utterly
 unbreakable (maybe) is that the noun and the verb must agree (ie,
 they must either both be plural or singular).  Even this rule has a
 grey area or two.  Therefore, any future installments of "Free Tips"
 should be assumed to have similar caveats.

   And yes, that means I probably will post future installments, as
 this one was fairly well received--maybe about one every two weeks or
 so.

--Freemage




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