Mechanics Forum

Dear Kat,

I'm very sure that I have irritated Matt in many many ways. I have little doubt that quotations are only one of the punctuationally based irritations. In my defense I began school in Alberta Canada and then moved to North Dakota USA to finish after the fourth grade. Further, though I have unaccountable confidence in my creative (dare I say genius? No, I should be more humble) genius. My mother, who certainly has confidence in my genius, gave me some treasured mementos from my schooling and I discovered that my confidence in my English writing skills is not supported by the objective facts of my actual English grades. I'm certain there is some mistake, but I suspect they are mine and involve grammar.

So your excellent quotation tips dealt with much that I know, but one thing about which I remain confused is where and when to place a question mark in a quotation. I knew the simple rule of placing the comma instead of ending punctuation of a quote if a tag is used to identify the speaker, but what if the quote is a question? "What do I do?" I asked. OR "What do I do," I asked? OR "What do I do"?, I asked. OR "What do I do?" I asked?

I understand that the answer will be different if I am writing to Matt. I also realize that I will likely be irritating to him without regard to my correctness in North America. Still, I might hope not to irritate everyone. How should my query appear now that I currently live in the United States of America. I imagine it might be of use to know too how I might write if I were directly contacting our great Lord Matt.

Help me Oh Kat Hawthorne, you're my only hope.

LSO