Q. I can’t find anywhere in CMOS the correct procedure for punctuation at the end of rhetorical questions. A question mark seems out of place and an exclamation point, which CMOS does mention, seems gratuitous. Here are two such rhetorical questions from my forthcoming book:
The question for any owner or manager was, however, how much revenue are those live commercials bringing into the station.
The bigger question would be, could Crist and Johnson hold on to the station.
Will a period suffice for those?
Q. Searching for a guideline for “is known as” turns up two possible punctuation choices for the term/terms that follow. Sometimes the term is enclosed within double quotes; sometimes it lacks any punctuation. How does one decide?
Q. After reading your rule about not putting two periods one after the other, I wonder about a parenthesis as serving to break up this rule. How would you punctuate the following?
Option 1: Contact all departments (Finance, Compliance, Information Management, etc.)
Option 2: Contact all departments (Finance, Compliance, Information Management, etc.).
Or is there a third option?
Q. Hi there! Which of the following is correct? (1) “Here you go, dear” or (2) “Here you go dear”? The way I see it, a comma should not precede dear because dear is an adjective and not an interjection. “Here you go dear” is not the same as “Here you go, sir [or Stan].”
Q. Hey, has the Manual of Style tackled this conundrum yet? In Ira Gershwin’s lyric
I got plenty o’ nuttin’
and nuttin’s plenty for me
shouldn’t the second line require a double apostrophe (nuttin’’s)? Wouldn’t a single apostrophe create massive confusion the world over? I pass over the question of the idiomatic usage of nutting for nothing.
Q. I have read the sections on suspension points and em dashes, but I’m still a little confused about when to use them in some instances for a pause or break in the writer’s train of thought. If you use suspension points when the pause is a faltering and an em dash when there’s an interruption or a more abrupt break, how do you handle more “neutral” pauses in a sentence that are neither abrupt nor accompanied by confusion or insecurity? I would lean toward the em dash, but I have an AU that is ellipsis-happy, so it is making me question my judgement. Is an ellipsis okay in the instances below, or would an em dash fit the bill better? “I confidently thought I had his same sense of timing . . . or tie-ming.” “I could sense the potential for a fun, educational television show hosted by none other than . . . me.”
Q. Is a question mark called for in the following sentence? “I wonder when it will stop raining.” I believe that it is a statement and therefore a period is the required punctuation, but I see similar sentences with a question mark so often.
Q. Hello, CMOS! How do I punctuate when a question mark precedes a semicolon: “Why are you writing Matt’s evaluation?; he works in Emily’s office.” CMOS 6.56 tells us what to do when the first of the closely related sentences ends with a period; it looks funny when it ends with a question mark. Clearly, I could just separate it into two sentences. But can this construction be saved?
Q. A sentence in a manuscript: In a landmark collection of essays, The Division of the Kingdoms: Shakespeare’s Two Versions of “King Lear,” a range of scholars made the case . . . The book title is of course in italics—but then how does one treat that comma after Lear, and then the quote mark after the comma? Would the comma be in roman, and then the quote mark in italics?
Q. “The question is: how would you ask Mr. Jones what concerns he has about placing his order today?” Is the question mark correct?