Is a question mark necessary at the end of a compound sentence?

Of course you couldn't resist--you're a life-long asshole. Why don't you try, for once, to mind your own goddamned business? My screen name is not "S"--if you find it impossible to type Setanta, then don't talk to me and don't talk about me, you insufferably arrogant, ignorant creep.

I have found (to my surprise) that some guides do allow this... Jane Straus, in "The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation" says in the section on question marks:

Rule 1. Use a question mark only after a direct question.

Correct: Will you go with me?

Incorrect: I'm asking if you will go with me?

Rule 2a. A question mark replaces a period at the end of a sentence.

Incorrect: Will you go with me?.

Rule 2b. Because of Rule 2a, capitalize the word that follows a question mark.

Some writers choose to overlook this rule in special cases.

Example: Will you go with me? with Joe? with anyone?

Also, using a question mark as a kind of comma, I found this at thepunctuationguide.com:

Direct questions within a sentence

When a direct question occurs within a larger sentence, it takes a question mark. Note that in the examples below, the question mark supplants the comma that would syntactically belong in its place.

Would they make it on time? she wondered.

The key question, Can the two sides reach a compromise? was not answered.

“What are we having for dinner?” his son asked.

It seems that some (but not all) people allow question marks to interrupt, rather than terminate, a sentence. I was going to suggest it is a US versus British English difference, but I found a guide published by North Carolina Stae University where the capitalization-after-question-mark issue is answered thus: "The individual questions are independent sentences and are punctuated and capitalized as such. "

dalehileman wrote:
Slightly OT but to be technically correct shouldn't some of his periods be commas

gaily. "What

…tho I'd place "What" in LC

You might argue that a comma doesn't work if the sentence is compound with no connective, but it's a stretch

Whaddya mean, insufferably

Sorry, …, again just couldn't resist

Thanks Con, thot I remembered right

I had to learn BrE punctuation conventions when I started teaching. For example, double quotation marks in front of the sentence-ending punctutation:

She said, "It looks like a penis, only smaller." (AmE)
vs
She said, "It looks like a penis, only smaller". (BrE)

also:

K.T.G. (AmE)
vs
K.T.G (BrE)

and the way we treat collective nouns:

Man. U. has won the cup. (AmE) (Not that any American would care enough to make such an observation, of course)
vs
Man. U(.?) have won the cup. (BrE)

"Logical" (BrE) rather than "strict" (AmE) treatment of quotes & punctuation is still a difference, although there is a now vocal minority of AmE users who argue for "logical". However, periods in abbreviations have vanished. It's BBC, USA, GDP, PC, now. As for Man U has/have, you can generally use either in BrE and nobody will complain, although an unusually careful writer might prefer "has" when considering the team as an entity, and "have" when thinking of it as 11 men.

One difference I still notice is using a dash in an alphabetical/numeric contraction or designation such as MI5 (BrE) MI-5 (AmE).

Yeah, I was trying to think of an abbreviation that still takes periods, but wound up having to make one up.

I once mentioned to a Scottish friend of mine how BrE material I see doesn't always capitalize every letter of an acronym. Sometimes I see "NASA" and sometimes it's "Nasa." I'm pretty sure we AmE users are consistent with "NASA." Anyway, I mentioned it to him and he didn't believe me. I had to pull up some examples online and prove it to him.

It's a matter of style preference rather than grammar, I guess. The Guardian has this in its style guide:

Do not use full points in abbreviations, or spaces between initials, including those in proper names: IMF, mph, eg, 4am, M&S, No 10, AN Wilson, WH Smith, etc.

Use all capitals if an abbreviation is pronounced as the individual letters (an initialism): BBC, CEO, US, VAT, etc; if it is an acronym (pronounced as a word) spell out with initial capital, eg Nasa, Nato, Unicef, unless it can be considered to have entered the language as an everyday word, such as awol, laser and, more recently, asbo, pin number and sim card. Note that pdf and plc are lowercase.

http://www.theguardian.com/guardian-observer-style-guide-a

I note that the Guardian is a centre-left publication which regards itself as "progressive", however the Daily Telegraph, a bastion of the Conservative press, treats acronyms the same.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/topics/about-us/style-book/

A piece by one of its editors amusingly describes how supporters of the United Kingdom Indepence Party are enraged by the use of "Ukip". (The party is widely regarded by anyone with any sense as being composed of rabid moonbats.)

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tomchiversscience/100250373/why-its-ukip-not-ukip-and-why-i-find-that-amusing/



http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/tomchiversscience/100250373/why-its-ukip-not-ukip-and-why-i-find-that-amusing/

I think journalism has its own set of rules specifically designed to save space. And AmE and BrE are still a little at odds about that. Academic English has some slightly different conventions. You can often find incomplete sentences, for example, in news stories that would be rejected if submitted for a university assignment or submission. I have to obey the MLA style guide for AmE. Not sure what BrE schools use. I do need to learn more about BrE conventions, though, because I teach my students that both are right. I just tell them not to mix conventions in a single paper. Pick one and stay with it throughout the same writing.

I was editing my previous while you replied, somewhat clumsily as you will see (beaten by the clock). Most UK universities have their own style guides, and totally capitalizing acronyms seems pretty universal:

Oxford (capitalize all acronyms whether pronounceable or not): http://www.ox.ac.uk/public-affairs/style-guide

Cambridge (ditto): https://authornet.cambridge.org/information/productionguide/hss/text.asp

York (ditto): http://www.york.ac.uk/communications/publications/writing/style-guide/

Ah, OK. Gotcha. I'm familiar with universities setting their own styles. For example, mine (I'm a grad student) forbids using first person pronouns (or perspective) and contractions. I mentioned that to two of my Canadian friends, though, and they'd never heard of such. They each let me read one of their submissions, and I know for a fact that both of them would've been rejected in my program for those very reasons. Go figure. Now I've got it stuck in my brain not to use first person or contractions in any academic work.