Be Your Own Editor: A Writer's Guide to Perfect Prose by Sigrid Macdonald

Author:Sigrid Macdonald
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: a editing, b copyediting, c writing, d creative writing, e essays, f writing articles, g blogging, h rewriting, i help for writers, j writing fiction, k writing nonfiction, l developing characters, m establishing dialogue, n copy editing, o writing tips
Publisher: Sigrid Macdonald

The Question Mark

Obviously, you want to use a question mark at the end of any sentence that poses a question. It sounds like a no-brainer but often enough even the pros forget. In John Grisham’s second blockbuster novel, A Time to Kill, he frequently omits question marks. On page 274, in the sentence, “Why don’t you get it and get dressed,” [Grisham, John, A Time to Kill, paperback edition, page 274, 2009], there is no question mark but there should be.

Likewise on page 282, one of his characters says, “What’s today,” he thought. [Ibid, page 282.] Now that’s a particularly interesting sentence because to begin with, whenever we refer to somebody’s thoughts, we should frame that part of the sentence in italics but Grisham didn’t do that. And there should be a question mark after the word today, so the phrase should actually look like this: What’s today? he thought.

Note that the word he is not capitalized because it is a continuation of the same sentence. The man is having a thought. That is very much like saying something out loud except that we will not add any quotation marks, but rather place the thought in italics, add the question mark and lowercase the pronoun he. I will discuss this further in our section on dialogue.

Some writers aren’t sure what constitutes a question, particularly when the phrase “I wonder” is involved. “I wonder if she’s coming” is not a question. It’s a statement. A question is, “Is she coming?” That deserves a question mark. Any sentence that begins with “I wonder” generally does not warrant a question mark, and there’s no need for you to wonder anymore about it.

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