Apostrophe and Quotation Marks

Hill-Shatar · #1 (**permalink**) 09-18-2005, 09:27 PM

Over the last couple of days, my ability to use apostrophes and quotation marks has decreased. for some reason, when I hit the key, it doesnt appear, until I hit spacebar, or another letter, then it appears before what I just typed in. However, if I just typed in a e or o, ect, then the little icons appear above the letter I am typing, and I must go back, and press spacebar in between pressing the first two keys.

I first noticed this problem on Gamebanshee, but then it popped up on Word as well. I am not sure how to correct this problem. Is it possible I nailed something while on this site that chaged it to that format, and that I must click it to change it back?

Thanks for your time.

Xandax · #2 (**permalink**) 09-18-2005, 10:56 PM

Are you sure you are pressing apostrophes ' and not the accentkeys: ` ´?

If you are then try checking out which character set your keyboard is using (although that shouldn't change suddenly) via the controlpanel. Could be it is set to something other then what you wish.

Hill-Shatar · #3 (**permalink**) 09-18-2005, 11:15 PM

I am sure I am not using the accent keys, as they are no where near each other on my keyboard.

The problem has persisted to the new keyboard (this is a laptop, the keys were falling off), and refuses to go away. I looked for the character set, if thats what you mean, but couldnt find anything of relevance (I searched for it in the help section as well). as far as it appears, there is nothing to do with apostrophes.

Auto correct still corrects the apostrophes sometimes, however... if i type in isnt it will add the apostrophe. As far as I know I dont have any of the disability typing enhancements active, nor should they hinder my apostroophe.

If you could clarify what you mean by character set...? Perhaps I made a mistake somewhere along the way...

Xandax · #4 (**permalink**) 09-18-2005, 11:42 PM

Which version of Windows do you use?

In XP there is in the control panel a setting for international and language settings (don't know the correct english menupoint name as I'm so unfortunate to have bought the danish version of XP prof (bugger me)).

In there you can set which language code the keyboard should use.
Alternative there is (or can be) a language toolbar on your processbar (the thingy in the bottom of the screen with the icons of which programs you run).
If it isn't there - then right click and select toolbar, and then the relevant one for langauge.
Make sure your keyboard is set to the proper country code.

But unless the keyboard is faulty or the driver installation is - then I fail to see how this could happen.

dragon wench · #5 (**permalink**) 09-19-2005, 12:38 AM

I had something vaguely similar happen once. If I copied and pasted a document, all of the apostrophes changed into question marks. I also first noticed it when I pasted stuff at GB, and then it began happening in Word. Eventually it just went away...

I suspect, as Xan suggests, that I may have inadvertantly hit a language key, or somehow adjusted a setting.

Hill-Shatar · #6 (**permalink**) 09-19-2005, 06:10 PM

Xandax, I have worked the computer and changed it from the US english system to Canada's (makes sense anyways). But the problem is not that the apostrophes are not doing what they are supposed to do, they are not popping up.

For example, I want to type in Can't.

I type in C...C

Ca

Can

Can

Can'(after I clicked the spacebar to make it appear)

Can't

Its just that this is a pain in the butt. Mainly since I couldnt handle it myself. Thanks for your time, Xandax, but I don't think that anything that you can tell me will help.

Sorry for taking up your time. Have a nice day/evening/night/morning.

Ravager · #7 (**permalink**) 09-20-2005, 04:17 AM

I think there may be an on-screen keyboard you could use from the Control Panel instead of troublesome keys. It's just bypassing the keyboard problem, I know, but it might help a little.

dragon wench · #8 (**permalink**) 09-20-2005, 10:28 AM

Another option might be to try a repair install of Windows. Not a complete reinstall, just hit the fix option. Though, I'd suggest backing up anything critical, just in case.

Malta Soron · #9 (**permalink**) 09-20-2005, 11:23 AM

I think the apostrophes are supposed to behave that way. It has been that way om my PC ever since I bought it. Same for the PC's at my school, and every other computer I use. Apparently, the people over at Microsoft think it's usefull. I'm used to it, so I don't mind.

Xandax · #10 (**permalink**) 09-20-2005, 01:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Malta Soron

I think the apostrophes are supposed to behave that way. It has been that way om my PC ever since I bought it. Same for the PC's at my school, and every other computer I use. Apparently, the people over at Microsoft think it's usefull. I'm used to it, so I don't mind.

Nope it is not supposed to be like that - it is very much depending on keyboard/language - my apostrophe is used just like pressing it, but the accent keys `and ´ need a space or secondary letter (é à etc). English uses ' a lot, so having to press a secondary key on any kind of english-origin language would seem like a fault, but some other languages doesn't use it as much.
And I also remember from my days in DOS and other incidents that the english (US?) keyboard layout doesn't need a secondary key to get the ' displayed.
So if this is something which suddenly happens - then there is definately something wrong.....

Malta Soron · #11 (**permalink**) 09-21-2005, 12:12 AM

My language is set to Dutch, and my keyboard lay-out is U.S.

dj_venom · #12 (**permalink**) 09-24-2005, 11:50 PM

I have the exact same thing happening to me. Just for technical information, I didn't see you had posted your type of keyboard, however mine is a Microsoft, and I guess you have the same type. I have never got around to trying to fix it, however maybe I will check some stuff out.

Hill-Shatar · #13 (**permalink**) 09-24-2005, 11:58 PM

The problem doesn't appear to be the keyboard. this is a laptop I am on, but the keys kept falling off, so we got a keyboard and added it on instead. However, this problem with the keyboard has been going on for a while...

dj_venom · #14 (**permalink**) 09-25-2005, 12:06 AM

Very strange then. I know a bit about computers, so I just went through the settings and there is nothing I can find that relates to this phenomena, as it is called by me. I will continue to look, but until then we must be content with pressing space after a '. But if you are using it with contractions, it doesn't make problems, because it doesn't accent them, and no contractions have e, or at least not to my knowledge.

It's annoying, and I would say that you might have to live with it... however I don't let computers beat me, so I will fix this problem! It may take a while, but I will be working on this for a while.