Question Marks | The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation

Interrogative Sentences: Usage and Examples

GrammarBook.com — Wed, 12 Oct 2022 11:00:34 +0000

The English language includes four types of sentences: declarative, interrogative, exclamatory, and imperative. This discussion will focus on interrogative sentences. What Is an Interrogative Sentence? A declarative sentence “declares” something (e.g., facts, thoughts, opinions), an exclamatory sentence imparts a strong expression or emotion, and an imperative sentence issues a command. An interrogative sentence asks a […]

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American vs. British English: Punctuation

GrammarBook.com — Wed, 24 Jun 2020 05:00:30 +0000

During the last several weeks we’ve covered some meaningful ground about the language we share with our friends across the water. For us, it’s been fun to reflect on what we have in common as well as how each dialect varies its voice. So far, we’ve examined spelling, vocabulary, and points of grammar. We’ll conclude […]

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Rules Do Change

GrammarBook.com — Wed, 25 Apr 2018 05:00:05 +0000

Spacing after periods, colons, question marks, and exclamation marks Originally, typewriters had monospaced fonts (skinny letters and fat letters took up the same amount of space), so two spaces after ending punctuation marks such as the period were used to make the text more legible. However, most computer fonts present no difficulty with proportion or […]

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A _____ Walks Into a Bar

GrammarBook.com — Wed, 11 Apr 2018 05:00:28 +0000

The phrase A ______ walks into a bar has provided the take-off point for an uncountable number of jokes over the years. No matter what one’s opinion is of bars, we hope that everyone can appreciate the lessons in English grammar contained in the clever sentences that follow: A dangling participle walks into a bar. Enjoying […]

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Comma Chameleon

GrammarBook.com — Wed, 05 Apr 2017 17:28:18 +0000

I realize that on the grand scale of interesting things, punctuation is pretty far down the list. (In a recent survey, it was in a dead heat with stovepipes, just behind pocket lint.) Punctuation is a dying art. I’m not sure whether this is the writers’ or the readers’ fault, but I mostly blame the […]

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In Print Is Forever

GrammarBook.com — Wed, 25 Jan 2017 17:15:02 +0000

Oh, the things we see in print these days … From Time magazine: “General David Petraeus asked a famous question: ‘Tell me how this ends?’ ” Did you catch it? Here’s a clue: tell me how that’s a question. If Petraeus had asked a question, it would have been something like, “Tell me, how does this […]

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Punctuation or Chaos

GrammarBook.com — Wed, 13 Apr 2016 15:43:43 +0000

She said I saved the company No one knows for sure what the above sentence means. It consists of six everyday words, and the first five are monosyllables, yet this simple declarative sentence has at least three quite different meanings—maybe more, because with no period on the end, the reader can’t even be sure the […]

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No Question About It

GrammarBook.com — Tue, 08 Mar 2016 21:59:48 +0000

Let’s see if you can spot what is wrong with this sentence? On closer inspection, most of you will see that the sentence should end in a period rather than a question mark. Question marks are used only with direct questions. The sentence above certainly contains a direct question: what is wrong with this sentence? […]

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Question Marks with Quotation Marks

GrammarBook.com — Tue, 09 Apr 2013 17:45:04 +0000

Last week, we examined the strict rule governing periods and commas with quotation marks. This week, let’s look at the more logical rules governing the use of question marks with quotation marks. Rule – The placement of question marks with quotations follows logic. If a question is in quotation marks, the question mark should be […]

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Quotations Within Quotations

GrammarBook.com — Fri, 26 Jan 2007 01:18:47 +0000

Almost all of us have found ourselves confused with double and single quotation marks. When do we use single quotation marks? Where does the punctuation go with single quotation marks? With just a few rules and examples, you will feel surer about your decisions. How to Quote a Quote Rule: Use single quotation marks inside […]

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