I want to write the folowing sentence in some work:
- You went there on Thursday? for instance, is not an interrogative clause but a declarative one, even if the utterance may be a question.
In the format that I am expected to use, sentences like this should appear without any quotation marks, but in Italics. The parenthetical for instance needs, in my opinion to be set off by commas. However, if I put a comma after the question mark, it looks very odd indeed:
- You went there on Thursday?, for instance, is not an interrogative clause but a declarative one, even if the utterance may be a question.
What should I do in this instance?
Answer
What does your style manual say? The Chicago Manual of Style makes this a typographical issue, noting that when two different marks appear at the same location, only the stronger is retained. (Exceptions occur for certain instances involving quotation marks, parentheses, brackets, and dashes, but none of those is germane here.) Another typographical consideration for CMS is that the type face of a mark is set in the face of the preceding word. Although it’s likely most readers wouldn’t notice that the comma you’re considering would be oddly italic.
Obviously, the typographical consideration is in conflict with the utilitarian directive to set off asides with commas. Although the following doesn’t present a general solution, it’s easy to avoid this particular conflict:
For instance, You went there on Thursday? is not an interrogative clause but a declarative one, even if the utterance may be a question.
Attribution
Source : Link , Question Author : Araucaria – Not here any more. , Answer Author : deadrat
