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questions, questions
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willow55
 15 Jan 2012, 22:40 #139671 Reply To Post
I just had an interesting review that made me wonder if I've been misusing question marks all this time, putting them in after phrases which aren't really questions. The reviewer noted this example in my work:

'Lisa sighed. “Why? Because, unlike Jed, he listens to your opinions instead of railroading them? And turns up when he says he will? And doesn’t swear all the time? What a shit, eh?”….”

I had to agree, not all of them are questions. But they're spoken as questions ... in which case, shouldn't I use them? Or perhaps the dialogue itself should be strong enough to indicate how something is said and question marks should only be used where there is an actual question.

And what about the 'eh?' at the end - isn't that a short-hand version of 'isn't he?'

Now thoroughly
Malcolm
 15 Jan 2012, 22:50 #139673 Reply To Post
Quote: willow55, Sunday, 15 Jan 2012 22:40
I just had an interesting review that made me wonder if I've been misusing question marks all this time, putting them in after phrases which aren't really questions. The reviewer noted this example in my work:

'Lisa sighed. “Why? Because, unlike Jed, he listens to your opinions instead of railroading them? And turns up when he says he will? And doesn’t swear all the time? What a shit, eh?”….”

I had to agree, not all of them are questions. But they're spoken as questions ... in which case, shouldn't I use them? Or perhaps the dialogue itself should be strong enough to indicate how something is said and question marks should only be used where there is an actual question.

And what about the 'eh?' at the end - isn't that a short-hand version of 'isn't he?'

Now thoroughly


They may not take the conventional form of questions, but your character is, as you say, speaking them as questions, and you've properly indicated that by using question marks. Your reviewer has misunderstood or misinterpreted the dialogue.
No stars. No charts. Just crits.
PERRY
 16 Jan 2012, 08:49 #139693 Reply To Post
Which story is it willow? This is a contextual issue. For instance the eh? at the end could be purely rhetorical and not an interrogative.
This post was last edited by PERRY, 16 Jan 2012, 08:51
Destinyschild
 16 Jan 2012, 10:39 #139706 Reply To Post
All sentences which pose a question, rhetorical or otherwise, require a question mark.

DC
willow55
 16 Jan 2012, 11:46 #139714 Reply To Post
Thanks for the clarification, DC and Malcolm - I was starting to doubt my own logic. Perry, it was for Best Before - realised later that she'd scored me mostly ones so clearly I have more to worry about than question marks!!
PERRY
 16 Jan 2012, 11:58 #139716 Reply To Post
Quote: Destinyschild, Monday, 16 Jan 2012 10:39
All sentences which pose a question, rhetorical or otherwise, require a question mark.

DC


You're not serious.
Destinyschild
 16 Jan 2012, 12:03 #139718 Reply To Post
I am actually, but I only do this for a living.

DC
PERRY
 16 Jan 2012, 12:10 #139719 Reply To Post
You're saying "What a shit, eh?" constitutes a question and requires a question mark? I'd have thought it was a sarcastic exclamation. Hence the contextual part of my comment. As it happens, it doesn't need that to be ruled out as a question. The "What a [...]" identifies it as an exclamation, the "eh" being an affectation. Do you put a question mark after every Canadian and Australian sentence?

Looks a good story by the way, willow - must give it a gleek later. Top Ten congrats and wouldn't worry.
Destinyschild
 16 Jan 2012, 12:14 #139721 Reply To Post
Perry, I have no intention of discussing it with you as you will always know better.

Willow may decide who's advice she takes.

DC
PERRY
 16 Jan 2012, 12:31 #139724 Reply To Post
That's a pissy comment, DC. I wasn't sure over the contextual impact of the sentence beginning with "Because". I read the excerpt. It is a question in the context.
I don't want to be going under any false beliefs either. I was taught an affectation doesn't need a question mark.
Is it a two schools of thought thing - as in the requirement for exclamation marks - or is one of us simply wrong?
My advanced grammar check application supports both.

Oh, and it's whose, not "who's", so willow may indeed decide. Not a bit wonder we've mostly tabloids.
This post was last edited by PERRY, 16 Jan 2012, 12:34
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