Punctuation

[wishfulthinking]

More often than not I notice that after the use of "!" or "?" follows a word not beginning with a capital letter. I've always treated them as the equivalent of a full stop, and then began the next sentence with a capital letter.

Eg. "Hello?" He called out
"Hello?" he called out


Does anyone know which is the right way?

 

[Guest]

More often than not I notice that after the use of "!" or "?" follows a word not beginning with a capital letter. I've always treated them as the equivalent of a full stop, and then began the next sentence with a capital letter.

Eg. "Hello?" He called out
"Hello?" he called out


Does anyone know which is the right way?

Hi Wishful,

The second option is right: "Hello?" he called out.

I'm not entirely sure why - because it doesn't seem logical - but, if a question mark or exclamation mark is used at the end of dialogue it should be treated like a comma, not a full stop. So, the next word is still technically within the same sentence and shouldn't be started with a capital letter.

Lou

 

[snooper]

Re: Re: Punctuation

... The second option is right ...

I agree.

... I'm not entirely sure why - because it doesn't seem logical ...

It is because the quotation marks enclose a separate entity which does not affect its surrounding text, much as brackets do.

 

[Guest]

Re: Re: Re: Punctuation

...
It is because the quotation marks enclose a separate entity which does not affect its surrounding text, much as brackets do.

Aha! Thanks for that, Snooper.

Lou

 

[Lauren Hynde]

In a quotation, ? and ! are merely intonation marks. Read:

       "Hello?" he called out.

It is just one sentence. The question mark carries the intonation, but the not the pause between the two fragments that a full stop (or a question mark outside a quotation) would. That is why full stops turn to commas, at the end of quotations:

       "Whatever," he said.

The full stop doesn't have an intonation, it is neutral, but the pause required when reading this sentence is equivalent to that of a comma, so that is what is used.

 

[wishfulthinking]

Ahhh! Thanks guys. Weird nobody sent that in feedback to me, although they probably think it is some strange aussie quirk, what with all the differences in spelling and stuff!


Cheers!

 

[herecomestherain]

Hey Wishful thanks for asking the question. I've been discussing and wondering about this one too.

Cheers
'rain