Q. If a sentence is a question and ends with a quote which is not a question, should a question mark be used, and if so, where should it be placed?
A. Put a sentence-ending question mark outside the quoted statement: Can you believe he said “I like your face-lift”?
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I can’t find any reference in CMOS 16 to how odds should be punctuated.
A. Odds are ratios. Ratios may be expressed in numerals with a colon and no spaces or with numbers spelled out or not according to the guidelines in chapter 9:
The odds are 451:1.
The odds are 3:2.
The odds are 451 to 1.
The odds are three to two.
[Update: CMOS 17 covers this in paragraph 9.58.]
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Please help our editorial team settle a debate! Our query concerns this paragraph:
Students might offer many different explanations, such as “Selma has 3 groups of __.” or “John has __. Selma has 3 times as many.”
Is it fine to keep the period at the end of the first example when it is followed by an or and then another example? Thank you.
A. This isn’t a good idea. A period so strongly signals the end of a sentence that there are few times you can get away with one in the middle. If you have room to set the examples on separate lines, they would be more readable:
Students might offer many different explanations, such as
Selma has 3 groups of __.
John has __. Selma has 3 times as many.
If you must run in the examples, you might set them in another font or color or in curly brackets:
. . . such as {Selma has 3 groups of __.} or {John has __. Selma has 3 times as many.}.
Note the period after the closing bracket at the end of the sentence.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. In this example {The stationery is described in John R. MacArthur’s book The Selling of “Free Trade,” p. 217}, is it right for the quotes that apply only to “Free Trade” to fall after the comma? And if so, should the comma revert to roman but the quotes remain in italics?
A. Commas always go inside the quotation marks. Punctuation is formatted to match the surrounding text, so a comma that falls within an italic title should also be italic.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. If I am making a direct quotation and using the author-date references, the reference is supposed to go within the sentence before the period. But what if the quotation is at the end of the sentence? Do I use two periods? E.g.: Carrington, a Thatcherite conservative, remarked after the Lancaster House agreement in 1979 that “if any man left Lancaster House transformed in the eyes of Western statesmen, it was Mugabe.” (Chan 2003, 14).
A. The rule stays the same—keep the citation within the sentence, before the period: Carrington, a Thatcherite conservative, remarked after the Lancaster House agreement in 1979 that “if any man left Lancaster House transformed in the eyes of Western statesmen, it was Mugabe” (Chan 2003, 14). The presence of a question mark or exclamation mark at the end of the quotation doesn’t change the need for a period after the citation: Did Carrington say that “it was Mugabe”? (Chan 2003, 14).
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. A colleague has sent me your about-face from the 15th edition regarding punctuation following italicized words, and I am speechless. I’m afraid I’ll have to look for a new authority on style, because this decision is so vile, and makes text look so absolutely horrible that I refuse to follow the change. What’s next? Putting commas and periods outside quotation marks? You may as well go that route as well; it looks better than having a roman question mark or exclamation point after an italicized word. What’s wrong with you? Why couldn’t you leave well enough alone? Absolutely irrational, horrible decision. You should be ashamed of yourselves.
Q. I know semicolons are mandated for complicated lists. But is a complicated list defined only as a list containing commas within the items in the list?
A. Although items in a complicated series may well contain commas, the items can be complicated in other ways—for instance, they might have dashes or parentheses or a series of nouns connected by and or or.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Hi, I wanted to ask how quotation marks would be used for a timing, for example, John Cage’s 4’3”. Because this features both single and double quotation marks, how would I quote it? Would it be ‘4’33”’ or “4’33””? Thanks in advance.
A. Confusion abounds here because minute and second marks are not quotation marks. Minute and second marks are straight and slanted (use the prime and double prime symbols: 4′33″); quotation marks are either curly (“4”) or straight but vertical ("4"). You can use quotation marks around minute and second expressions as you would any other quoted text, but if the typography gets ugly, paraphrase instead of quoting, and spell out minutes and seconds.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. I have completed my first literary novel. I am working with a well respected editor who has edited many modern novelists. In my writing, I have followed Strunk & White’s The Elements of Style and The Chicago Manual of Style in my use of the semicolon. My editor claims that my uses are “incorrect.” Here is a typical example from my book: “When the spring comes, you tell us we cannot work until we pay our dues; but the problem is, we cannot pay until we work.” The editor’s “correction”: “When the spring comes, you tell us we cannot work until we pay our dues. But the problem is, we cannot pay until we work.” My editor has deleted every semicolon in the manuscript. Can someone explain what is happening to the lowly semicolon and why it gets no respect?
A. Semicolons tend to be frowned upon in fiction. An editor who doesn’t allow them at all is overly rigid, however, since they are sometimes useful and even necessary. As for the sentence you quote, a semicolon isn’t wrong (see CMOS 6.59), but it’s a matter of taste whether the best choice is to start a new sentence or use a semicolon or even a comma before but.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]
Q. Good day! I am currently revising our stylebook based on The Chicago Manual of Style. I would like to ask if you have a strict standard on slashes, whether I should put a space after the slash before typing/writing the next element, or is it all right if there is none?
A. If the slash divides two words, there is no space. If it divides two phrases or sentences (or a single word from a phrase), it requires a space before and after. Please see CMOS 6.106.
[This answer relies on the 17th edition of CMOS (2017) unless otherwise noted.]