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Usenet Posted 21 years ago
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Punctuation Problem
Would someone like to express an opinion if the following has correct punctuation for AE:
"Oh my god!" he exclaimed, "what is that?"
As the first part of the dialogue ends with an exclamation point, which in normal circumstances is a terminator, should there be a period after the attribution? This would mean that "what is that?" would need to start with a capital. If the attribution were removed then a capital would be required:
"Oh my god! What is that?"
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
"Oh my god!" he exclaimed, "what is that?"
As the first part of the dialogue ends with an exclamation point, which in normal circumstances is a terminator, should there be a period after the attribution? This would mean that "what is that?" would need to start with a capital. If the attribution were removed then a capital would be required:
"Oh my god! What is that?"
Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Top answer
" he exclaimed, ... [/nq] No. Only a single punctuation mark should appear (never two together) but (as you wrote) the exclamation mark has the function of a full stop so that the next item of either narrative or reported speech begins a new sentence, thus requires in English that the first word be capitialized.
- " he exclaimed, ...
- [/nq] No.
- Only a single punctuation mark should appear (never two together) but (as you wrote) the exclamation mark has the function of a full stop so that the next item of either narrative or reported speech begins a new sentence, thus requires in English that the first word be capitialized.
- " would need to start with a capital.
- If the attribution were removed then a capital would be required: "Oh my ***!
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1 Answers
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[nq:1]Would someone like to express an opinion if the following has correct punctuation for AE: "Oh my ***!" he exclaimed, ... ends with an exclamation point, which in normal circumstances is a terminator, should there be a period after the attribution?[/nq]
No. Only a single punctuation mark should appear (never two together) but (as you wrote) the exclamation mark has the function of a full
No. Only a single punctuation mark should appear (never two together) but (as you wrote) the exclamation mark has the function of a full
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