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Thu 10 Apr, 2014 10:59 pm
I'm trying to figure out the proper punctuation for the following sentence: The replies that filtered back down were rife with comments like “Who are the participants here and their roles?”, “Can we get a head count on who's dealt with this person thus far and what happened?”, and even worse, “Who's Ted?”.
I'm particularly wondering if I should use a comma after "like" (using it seems to put too much of a halt to the cadence, though I think it's probably correct to use it), commas between the quotes, and whether the period at the end of the sentence is okay (seems weird after the quote with question mark).
Thanks in advance for any and all suggestions!
@DaveinJapan,
DaveinJapan wrote:
I'm trying to figure out the proper punctuation for the following sentence: The replies that filtered back down were rife with comments like “Who are the participants here and their roles?”, “Can we get a head count on who's dealt with this person thus far and what happened?”, and even worse, “Who's Ted?”.
I'm particularly wondering if I should use a comma after "like" (using it seems to put too much of a halt to the cadence, though I think it's probably correct to use it), commas between the quotes, and whether the period at the end of the sentence is okay (seems weird after the quote with question mark).
Thanks in advance for any and all suggestions!
Everything looks okay to me except for the placement of the final period...which normally would be before the quote marks. But the way you have it look better to me than before the quote marks...and the sentence does seem to require a period at its end despite that final question mark.
I'm going to stick around to hear what some others have to say.
@Frank Apisa,
Semi-colons rather than commas separating the quotes may be in order.
I'd suggest leaving out the " " marks and just list the questions. No need to make them direct quotes.
The replies that filtered back down were rife with questions such as: Who are the participants here and their roles?; Can we get a head count on who's dealt with this person thus far and what happened?; and, finally, Who's Ted?
Great suggestions all, and very much appreciated. Many thanks!
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