How to punctuate a quote of a question?











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It is suggested my question is a duplicate of How to punctuate an embedded quoted question within a declarative sentence?. It is not, that answer does not address the problem of a quote within a quote, it only addresses the problem of a quote within prose. So, for example, it uses double quotation marks around the quote instead of single, and doesn't address whether I have a comma after the singly-quoted quotation or not. My original question follows. Note that the character Jack is speaking and part of his speech is to quote a question asked earlier by his daughter.



A character is speaking to another character, and quotes a question of the other character then goes on about that question.




"No," Jack said, "You asked me, 'Can I go out with Jenna?', and I said yes, but you didn't tell me Bobby would be there, and I've told you, you cannot go anywhere with Bobby!"




Am I punctuating 'Can I go out with Jenna?' correctly?










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  • 1




    Possible duplicate of How to punctuate an embedded quoted question within a declarative sentence?
    – FumbleFingers
    Dec 10 at 15:24










  • Possible duplicate of How should I punctuate around quotes?
    – Laurel
    Dec 10 at 19:01















up vote
0
down vote

favorite












It is suggested my question is a duplicate of How to punctuate an embedded quoted question within a declarative sentence?. It is not, that answer does not address the problem of a quote within a quote, it only addresses the problem of a quote within prose. So, for example, it uses double quotation marks around the quote instead of single, and doesn't address whether I have a comma after the singly-quoted quotation or not. My original question follows. Note that the character Jack is speaking and part of his speech is to quote a question asked earlier by his daughter.



A character is speaking to another character, and quotes a question of the other character then goes on about that question.




"No," Jack said, "You asked me, 'Can I go out with Jenna?', and I said yes, but you didn't tell me Bobby would be there, and I've told you, you cannot go anywhere with Bobby!"




Am I punctuating 'Can I go out with Jenna?' correctly?










share|improve this question




















  • 1




    Possible duplicate of How to punctuate an embedded quoted question within a declarative sentence?
    – FumbleFingers
    Dec 10 at 15:24










  • Possible duplicate of How should I punctuate around quotes?
    – Laurel
    Dec 10 at 19:01













up vote
0
down vote

favorite









up vote
0
down vote

favorite











It is suggested my question is a duplicate of How to punctuate an embedded quoted question within a declarative sentence?. It is not, that answer does not address the problem of a quote within a quote, it only addresses the problem of a quote within prose. So, for example, it uses double quotation marks around the quote instead of single, and doesn't address whether I have a comma after the singly-quoted quotation or not. My original question follows. Note that the character Jack is speaking and part of his speech is to quote a question asked earlier by his daughter.



A character is speaking to another character, and quotes a question of the other character then goes on about that question.




"No," Jack said, "You asked me, 'Can I go out with Jenna?', and I said yes, but you didn't tell me Bobby would be there, and I've told you, you cannot go anywhere with Bobby!"




Am I punctuating 'Can I go out with Jenna?' correctly?










share|improve this question















It is suggested my question is a duplicate of How to punctuate an embedded quoted question within a declarative sentence?. It is not, that answer does not address the problem of a quote within a quote, it only addresses the problem of a quote within prose. So, for example, it uses double quotation marks around the quote instead of single, and doesn't address whether I have a comma after the singly-quoted quotation or not. My original question follows. Note that the character Jack is speaking and part of his speech is to quote a question asked earlier by his daughter.



A character is speaking to another character, and quotes a question of the other character then goes on about that question.




"No," Jack said, "You asked me, 'Can I go out with Jenna?', and I said yes, but you didn't tell me Bobby would be there, and I've told you, you cannot go anywhere with Bobby!"




Am I punctuating 'Can I go out with Jenna?' correctly?







grammar






share|improve this question















share|improve this question













share|improve this question




share|improve this question








edited Dec 10 at 16:34

























asked Dec 10 at 15:04









Amadeus

76417




76417








  • 1




    Possible duplicate of How to punctuate an embedded quoted question within a declarative sentence?
    – FumbleFingers
    Dec 10 at 15:24










  • Possible duplicate of How should I punctuate around quotes?
    – Laurel
    Dec 10 at 19:01














  • 1




    Possible duplicate of How to punctuate an embedded quoted question within a declarative sentence?
    – FumbleFingers
    Dec 10 at 15:24










  • Possible duplicate of How should I punctuate around quotes?
    – Laurel
    Dec 10 at 19:01








1




1




Possible duplicate of How to punctuate an embedded quoted question within a declarative sentence?
– FumbleFingers
Dec 10 at 15:24




Possible duplicate of How to punctuate an embedded quoted question within a declarative sentence?
– FumbleFingers
Dec 10 at 15:24












Possible duplicate of How should I punctuate around quotes?
– Laurel
Dec 10 at 19:01




Possible duplicate of How should I punctuate around quotes?
– Laurel
Dec 10 at 19:01










1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes

















up vote
1
down vote



accepted










The rules are well established for sentences that start or end with the quote. See the answer to the question “How to punctuate an embedded quoted question within a declarative sentence?”. That answer refers to section 3.7.7 of Modern Language Association Handbook, 6th edition.



In short, when sentences end with a quote, use interpunction as follows:




You informed me, “I would like to go out with Jenna.” I was not surprised.



You yelled out, “I love Jenna!” Everyone could hear it.



You asked me, “Can I go out with Jenna?” I considered the question.




And when sentences start with a quote, a final period at the end of the quote becomes a comma, but a final question mark or exclamation point is left unchanged.




“I would like to go out with Jenna,” you informed me. I was not surprised.



“I love Jenna!” you yelled out. Everyone could hear it.



“Can I go out with Jenna?” you asked me. I considered the question.




When the interpunction is not part of the quote, British and American style differ: in American usage, interpunction following the closing quote mark is moved inside the quote marks. (This example is copied from the answer by Jay mentioned and linked above.)




British: Today we learned the words “apple”, “pear”, “orange”, and “grape”.



American: Today we learned the words “apple,” “pear,” “orange,” and “grape.”




I prefer the British usage, as it is more logical, but I appreciate the æsthetic appeal of the American style, in most cases.





For quotes nested inside quotes, alternate between single and double quote marks. Double quote marks are usually used for the outermost quote.



Yes, you are punctuating correctly:




“No,” Jack said, “You asked me, ‘Can I go out with Jenna?’ I said yes.”






The specific issue in this question is that there are multiple independent clauses, separated with commas followed by “and” or “but”, with one of the non-final clauses having a quote at the end.



The punctuation of the clause itself is not in dispute. Single quote marks are used because the clause itself is part of an outer quote.




You asked me, ‘Can I go out with Jenna?’




In British usage, yes, you are punctuating correctly. It is perfectly natural to add the next clause as follows:




You asked me, ‘Can I go out with Jenna?’, and I said yes.




In American usage, a punctuation mark after a closing quote mark is moved inside the quote marks, even when that doesn’t make sense semantically. If you follow this rule to the extreme, you would have to write:




*You asked me, ‘Can I go out with Jenna?,’ and I said yes.




I prefer the British style in any case, but in this case more than usually. The American style may have an æsthetic appeal in most cases, but in this case it looks ugly. It looks so ugly, that I suspect even American editors would consider this wrong. But what would be the alternative in American usage? I suppose that one could drop the comma. The result is not as ugly.




You asked me, ‘Can I go out with Jenna?’ and I said yes.







share|improve this answer























  • I'm American, and I've never seen ?,". It should be ?" or ?",. (I believe American editors prefer ?".)
    – ruakh
    Dec 10 at 17:48












  • For completeness, I added the bit about quotes nested inside quotes. But the specific issue in this question is that there are multiple independent clauses, separated with commas followed by “and” or “but”, with one of the non-final clauses having a quote at the end, which ends in a question mark. The question mark is logically part of the quote, and the following comma followed by the conjunction “and” is a separator between the independent clauses.
    – Adhemar
    Dec 10 at 18:08










  • @Adhemar Thanks for the clarification.
    – Amadeus
    Dec 10 at 19:53










  • @ruakh I'm not quoting any style guide, but I read a comma as a pause in speech, so I would think <code>?"</code> and <code>?",</code> are the same; the comma is there independently to indicate whether we should read a pause in the speech or not.
    – Amadeus
    Dec 10 at 20:00










  • @Amadeus: I understand your thinking, but style guides don't allow commas to be freely added and removed based solely on where we want pauses. The answer to "How do I combine ?" with ,?" is usually "Drop the ,, keep the ?"", just as the answer to "How do I combine ?" with .?" is usually "Drop the ., keep the ?"." (By the way, HTML doesn't work in comments here. See english.stackexchange.com/editing-help#comment-formatting for details about the supported markup.)
    – ruakh
    Dec 10 at 20:43













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1 Answer
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1 Answer
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active

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active

oldest

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up vote
1
down vote



accepted










The rules are well established for sentences that start or end with the quote. See the answer to the question “How to punctuate an embedded quoted question within a declarative sentence?”. That answer refers to section 3.7.7 of Modern Language Association Handbook, 6th edition.



In short, when sentences end with a quote, use interpunction as follows:




You informed me, “I would like to go out with Jenna.” I was not surprised.



You yelled out, “I love Jenna!” Everyone could hear it.



You asked me, “Can I go out with Jenna?” I considered the question.




And when sentences start with a quote, a final period at the end of the quote becomes a comma, but a final question mark or exclamation point is left unchanged.




“I would like to go out with Jenna,” you informed me. I was not surprised.



“I love Jenna!” you yelled out. Everyone could hear it.



“Can I go out with Jenna?” you asked me. I considered the question.




When the interpunction is not part of the quote, British and American style differ: in American usage, interpunction following the closing quote mark is moved inside the quote marks. (This example is copied from the answer by Jay mentioned and linked above.)




British: Today we learned the words “apple”, “pear”, “orange”, and “grape”.



American: Today we learned the words “apple,” “pear,” “orange,” and “grape.”




I prefer the British usage, as it is more logical, but I appreciate the æsthetic appeal of the American style, in most cases.





For quotes nested inside quotes, alternate between single and double quote marks. Double quote marks are usually used for the outermost quote.



Yes, you are punctuating correctly:




“No,” Jack said, “You asked me, ‘Can I go out with Jenna?’ I said yes.”






The specific issue in this question is that there are multiple independent clauses, separated with commas followed by “and” or “but”, with one of the non-final clauses having a quote at the end.



The punctuation of the clause itself is not in dispute. Single quote marks are used because the clause itself is part of an outer quote.




You asked me, ‘Can I go out with Jenna?’




In British usage, yes, you are punctuating correctly. It is perfectly natural to add the next clause as follows:




You asked me, ‘Can I go out with Jenna?’, and I said yes.




In American usage, a punctuation mark after a closing quote mark is moved inside the quote marks, even when that doesn’t make sense semantically. If you follow this rule to the extreme, you would have to write:




*You asked me, ‘Can I go out with Jenna?,’ and I said yes.




I prefer the British style in any case, but in this case more than usually. The American style may have an æsthetic appeal in most cases, but in this case it looks ugly. It looks so ugly, that I suspect even American editors would consider this wrong. But what would be the alternative in American usage? I suppose that one could drop the comma. The result is not as ugly.




You asked me, ‘Can I go out with Jenna?’ and I said yes.







share|improve this answer























  • I'm American, and I've never seen ?,". It should be ?" or ?",. (I believe American editors prefer ?".)
    – ruakh
    Dec 10 at 17:48












  • For completeness, I added the bit about quotes nested inside quotes. But the specific issue in this question is that there are multiple independent clauses, separated with commas followed by “and” or “but”, with one of the non-final clauses having a quote at the end, which ends in a question mark. The question mark is logically part of the quote, and the following comma followed by the conjunction “and” is a separator between the independent clauses.
    – Adhemar
    Dec 10 at 18:08










  • @Adhemar Thanks for the clarification.
    – Amadeus
    Dec 10 at 19:53










  • @ruakh I'm not quoting any style guide, but I read a comma as a pause in speech, so I would think <code>?"</code> and <code>?",</code> are the same; the comma is there independently to indicate whether we should read a pause in the speech or not.
    – Amadeus
    Dec 10 at 20:00










  • @Amadeus: I understand your thinking, but style guides don't allow commas to be freely added and removed based solely on where we want pauses. The answer to "How do I combine ?" with ,?" is usually "Drop the ,, keep the ?"", just as the answer to "How do I combine ?" with .?" is usually "Drop the ., keep the ?"." (By the way, HTML doesn't work in comments here. See english.stackexchange.com/editing-help#comment-formatting for details about the supported markup.)
    – ruakh
    Dec 10 at 20:43

















up vote
1
down vote



accepted










The rules are well established for sentences that start or end with the quote. See the answer to the question “How to punctuate an embedded quoted question within a declarative sentence?”. That answer refers to section 3.7.7 of Modern Language Association Handbook, 6th edition.



In short, when sentences end with a quote, use interpunction as follows:




You informed me, “I would like to go out with Jenna.” I was not surprised.



You yelled out, “I love Jenna!” Everyone could hear it.



You asked me, “Can I go out with Jenna?” I considered the question.




And when sentences start with a quote, a final period at the end of the quote becomes a comma, but a final question mark or exclamation point is left unchanged.




“I would like to go out with Jenna,” you informed me. I was not surprised.



“I love Jenna!” you yelled out. Everyone could hear it.



“Can I go out with Jenna?” you asked me. I considered the question.




When the interpunction is not part of the quote, British and American style differ: in American usage, interpunction following the closing quote mark is moved inside the quote marks. (This example is copied from the answer by Jay mentioned and linked above.)




British: Today we learned the words “apple”, “pear”, “orange”, and “grape”.



American: Today we learned the words “apple,” “pear,” “orange,” and “grape.”




I prefer the British usage, as it is more logical, but I appreciate the æsthetic appeal of the American style, in most cases.





For quotes nested inside quotes, alternate between single and double quote marks. Double quote marks are usually used for the outermost quote.



Yes, you are punctuating correctly:




“No,” Jack said, “You asked me, ‘Can I go out with Jenna?’ I said yes.”






The specific issue in this question is that there are multiple independent clauses, separated with commas followed by “and” or “but”, with one of the non-final clauses having a quote at the end.



The punctuation of the clause itself is not in dispute. Single quote marks are used because the clause itself is part of an outer quote.




You asked me, ‘Can I go out with Jenna?’




In British usage, yes, you are punctuating correctly. It is perfectly natural to add the next clause as follows:




You asked me, ‘Can I go out with Jenna?’, and I said yes.




In American usage, a punctuation mark after a closing quote mark is moved inside the quote marks, even when that doesn’t make sense semantically. If you follow this rule to the extreme, you would have to write:




*You asked me, ‘Can I go out with Jenna?,’ and I said yes.




I prefer the British style in any case, but in this case more than usually. The American style may have an æsthetic appeal in most cases, but in this case it looks ugly. It looks so ugly, that I suspect even American editors would consider this wrong. But what would be the alternative in American usage? I suppose that one could drop the comma. The result is not as ugly.




You asked me, ‘Can I go out with Jenna?’ and I said yes.







share|improve this answer























  • I'm American, and I've never seen ?,". It should be ?" or ?",. (I believe American editors prefer ?".)
    – ruakh
    Dec 10 at 17:48












  • For completeness, I added the bit about quotes nested inside quotes. But the specific issue in this question is that there are multiple independent clauses, separated with commas followed by “and” or “but”, with one of the non-final clauses having a quote at the end, which ends in a question mark. The question mark is logically part of the quote, and the following comma followed by the conjunction “and” is a separator between the independent clauses.
    – Adhemar
    Dec 10 at 18:08










  • @Adhemar Thanks for the clarification.
    – Amadeus
    Dec 10 at 19:53










  • @ruakh I'm not quoting any style guide, but I read a comma as a pause in speech, so I would think <code>?"</code> and <code>?",</code> are the same; the comma is there independently to indicate whether we should read a pause in the speech or not.
    – Amadeus
    Dec 10 at 20:00










  • @Amadeus: I understand your thinking, but style guides don't allow commas to be freely added and removed based solely on where we want pauses. The answer to "How do I combine ?" with ,?" is usually "Drop the ,, keep the ?"", just as the answer to "How do I combine ?" with .?" is usually "Drop the ., keep the ?"." (By the way, HTML doesn't work in comments here. See english.stackexchange.com/editing-help#comment-formatting for details about the supported markup.)
    – ruakh
    Dec 10 at 20:43















up vote
1
down vote



accepted







up vote
1
down vote



accepted






The rules are well established for sentences that start or end with the quote. See the answer to the question “How to punctuate an embedded quoted question within a declarative sentence?”. That answer refers to section 3.7.7 of Modern Language Association Handbook, 6th edition.



In short, when sentences end with a quote, use interpunction as follows:




You informed me, “I would like to go out with Jenna.” I was not surprised.



You yelled out, “I love Jenna!” Everyone could hear it.



You asked me, “Can I go out with Jenna?” I considered the question.




And when sentences start with a quote, a final period at the end of the quote becomes a comma, but a final question mark or exclamation point is left unchanged.




“I would like to go out with Jenna,” you informed me. I was not surprised.



“I love Jenna!” you yelled out. Everyone could hear it.



“Can I go out with Jenna?” you asked me. I considered the question.




When the interpunction is not part of the quote, British and American style differ: in American usage, interpunction following the closing quote mark is moved inside the quote marks. (This example is copied from the answer by Jay mentioned and linked above.)




British: Today we learned the words “apple”, “pear”, “orange”, and “grape”.



American: Today we learned the words “apple,” “pear,” “orange,” and “grape.”




I prefer the British usage, as it is more logical, but I appreciate the æsthetic appeal of the American style, in most cases.





For quotes nested inside quotes, alternate between single and double quote marks. Double quote marks are usually used for the outermost quote.



Yes, you are punctuating correctly:




“No,” Jack said, “You asked me, ‘Can I go out with Jenna?’ I said yes.”






The specific issue in this question is that there are multiple independent clauses, separated with commas followed by “and” or “but”, with one of the non-final clauses having a quote at the end.



The punctuation of the clause itself is not in dispute. Single quote marks are used because the clause itself is part of an outer quote.




You asked me, ‘Can I go out with Jenna?’




In British usage, yes, you are punctuating correctly. It is perfectly natural to add the next clause as follows:




You asked me, ‘Can I go out with Jenna?’, and I said yes.




In American usage, a punctuation mark after a closing quote mark is moved inside the quote marks, even when that doesn’t make sense semantically. If you follow this rule to the extreme, you would have to write:




*You asked me, ‘Can I go out with Jenna?,’ and I said yes.




I prefer the British style in any case, but in this case more than usually. The American style may have an æsthetic appeal in most cases, but in this case it looks ugly. It looks so ugly, that I suspect even American editors would consider this wrong. But what would be the alternative in American usage? I suppose that one could drop the comma. The result is not as ugly.




You asked me, ‘Can I go out with Jenna?’ and I said yes.







share|improve this answer














The rules are well established for sentences that start or end with the quote. See the answer to the question “How to punctuate an embedded quoted question within a declarative sentence?”. That answer refers to section 3.7.7 of Modern Language Association Handbook, 6th edition.



In short, when sentences end with a quote, use interpunction as follows:




You informed me, “I would like to go out with Jenna.” I was not surprised.



You yelled out, “I love Jenna!” Everyone could hear it.



You asked me, “Can I go out with Jenna?” I considered the question.




And when sentences start with a quote, a final period at the end of the quote becomes a comma, but a final question mark or exclamation point is left unchanged.




“I would like to go out with Jenna,” you informed me. I was not surprised.



“I love Jenna!” you yelled out. Everyone could hear it.



“Can I go out with Jenna?” you asked me. I considered the question.




When the interpunction is not part of the quote, British and American style differ: in American usage, interpunction following the closing quote mark is moved inside the quote marks. (This example is copied from the answer by Jay mentioned and linked above.)




British: Today we learned the words “apple”, “pear”, “orange”, and “grape”.



American: Today we learned the words “apple,” “pear,” “orange,” and “grape.”




I prefer the British usage, as it is more logical, but I appreciate the æsthetic appeal of the American style, in most cases.





For quotes nested inside quotes, alternate between single and double quote marks. Double quote marks are usually used for the outermost quote.



Yes, you are punctuating correctly:




“No,” Jack said, “You asked me, ‘Can I go out with Jenna?’ I said yes.”






The specific issue in this question is that there are multiple independent clauses, separated with commas followed by “and” or “but”, with one of the non-final clauses having a quote at the end.



The punctuation of the clause itself is not in dispute. Single quote marks are used because the clause itself is part of an outer quote.




You asked me, ‘Can I go out with Jenna?’




In British usage, yes, you are punctuating correctly. It is perfectly natural to add the next clause as follows:




You asked me, ‘Can I go out with Jenna?’, and I said yes.




In American usage, a punctuation mark after a closing quote mark is moved inside the quote marks, even when that doesn’t make sense semantically. If you follow this rule to the extreme, you would have to write:




*You asked me, ‘Can I go out with Jenna?,’ and I said yes.




I prefer the British style in any case, but in this case more than usually. The American style may have an æsthetic appeal in most cases, but in this case it looks ugly. It looks so ugly, that I suspect even American editors would consider this wrong. But what would be the alternative in American usage? I suppose that one could drop the comma. The result is not as ugly.




You asked me, ‘Can I go out with Jenna?’ and I said yes.








share|improve this answer














share|improve this answer



share|improve this answer








edited 2 days ago

























answered Dec 10 at 17:35









Adhemar

43326




43326












  • I'm American, and I've never seen ?,". It should be ?" or ?",. (I believe American editors prefer ?".)
    – ruakh
    Dec 10 at 17:48












  • For completeness, I added the bit about quotes nested inside quotes. But the specific issue in this question is that there are multiple independent clauses, separated with commas followed by “and” or “but”, with one of the non-final clauses having a quote at the end, which ends in a question mark. The question mark is logically part of the quote, and the following comma followed by the conjunction “and” is a separator between the independent clauses.
    – Adhemar
    Dec 10 at 18:08










  • @Adhemar Thanks for the clarification.
    – Amadeus
    Dec 10 at 19:53










  • @ruakh I'm not quoting any style guide, but I read a comma as a pause in speech, so I would think <code>?"</code> and <code>?",</code> are the same; the comma is there independently to indicate whether we should read a pause in the speech or not.
    – Amadeus
    Dec 10 at 20:00










  • @Amadeus: I understand your thinking, but style guides don't allow commas to be freely added and removed based solely on where we want pauses. The answer to "How do I combine ?" with ,?" is usually "Drop the ,, keep the ?"", just as the answer to "How do I combine ?" with .?" is usually "Drop the ., keep the ?"." (By the way, HTML doesn't work in comments here. See english.stackexchange.com/editing-help#comment-formatting for details about the supported markup.)
    – ruakh
    Dec 10 at 20:43




















  • I'm American, and I've never seen ?,". It should be ?" or ?",. (I believe American editors prefer ?".)
    – ruakh
    Dec 10 at 17:48












  • For completeness, I added the bit about quotes nested inside quotes. But the specific issue in this question is that there are multiple independent clauses, separated with commas followed by “and” or “but”, with one of the non-final clauses having a quote at the end, which ends in a question mark. The question mark is logically part of the quote, and the following comma followed by the conjunction “and” is a separator between the independent clauses.
    – Adhemar
    Dec 10 at 18:08










  • @Adhemar Thanks for the clarification.
    – Amadeus
    Dec 10 at 19:53










  • @ruakh I'm not quoting any style guide, but I read a comma as a pause in speech, so I would think <code>?"</code> and <code>?",</code> are the same; the comma is there independently to indicate whether we should read a pause in the speech or not.
    – Amadeus
    Dec 10 at 20:00










  • @Amadeus: I understand your thinking, but style guides don't allow commas to be freely added and removed based solely on where we want pauses. The answer to "How do I combine ?" with ,?" is usually "Drop the ,, keep the ?"", just as the answer to "How do I combine ?" with .?" is usually "Drop the ., keep the ?"." (By the way, HTML doesn't work in comments here. See english.stackexchange.com/editing-help#comment-formatting for details about the supported markup.)
    – ruakh
    Dec 10 at 20:43


















I'm American, and I've never seen ?,". It should be ?" or ?",. (I believe American editors prefer ?".)
– ruakh
Dec 10 at 17:48






I'm American, and I've never seen ?,". It should be ?" or ?",. (I believe American editors prefer ?".)
– ruakh
Dec 10 at 17:48














For completeness, I added the bit about quotes nested inside quotes. But the specific issue in this question is that there are multiple independent clauses, separated with commas followed by “and” or “but”, with one of the non-final clauses having a quote at the end, which ends in a question mark. The question mark is logically part of the quote, and the following comma followed by the conjunction “and” is a separator between the independent clauses.
– Adhemar
Dec 10 at 18:08




For completeness, I added the bit about quotes nested inside quotes. But the specific issue in this question is that there are multiple independent clauses, separated with commas followed by “and” or “but”, with one of the non-final clauses having a quote at the end, which ends in a question mark. The question mark is logically part of the quote, and the following comma followed by the conjunction “and” is a separator between the independent clauses.
– Adhemar
Dec 10 at 18:08












@Adhemar Thanks for the clarification.
– Amadeus
Dec 10 at 19:53




@Adhemar Thanks for the clarification.
– Amadeus
Dec 10 at 19:53












@ruakh I'm not quoting any style guide, but I read a comma as a pause in speech, so I would think <code>?"</code> and <code>?",</code> are the same; the comma is there independently to indicate whether we should read a pause in the speech or not.
– Amadeus
Dec 10 at 20:00




@ruakh I'm not quoting any style guide, but I read a comma as a pause in speech, so I would think <code>?"</code> and <code>?",</code> are the same; the comma is there independently to indicate whether we should read a pause in the speech or not.
– Amadeus
Dec 10 at 20:00












@Amadeus: I understand your thinking, but style guides don't allow commas to be freely added and removed based solely on where we want pauses. The answer to "How do I combine ?" with ,?" is usually "Drop the ,, keep the ?"", just as the answer to "How do I combine ?" with .?" is usually "Drop the ., keep the ?"." (By the way, HTML doesn't work in comments here. See english.stackexchange.com/editing-help#comment-formatting for details about the supported markup.)
– ruakh
Dec 10 at 20:43






@Amadeus: I understand your thinking, but style guides don't allow commas to be freely added and removed based solely on where we want pauses. The answer to "How do I combine ?" with ,?" is usually "Drop the ,, keep the ?"", just as the answer to "How do I combine ?" with .?" is usually "Drop the ., keep the ?"." (By the way, HTML doesn't work in comments here. See english.stackexchange.com/editing-help#comment-formatting for details about the supported markup.)
– ruakh
Dec 10 at 20:43




















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