How to punctuate a quoted question within a question?
How would I punctuate the bold portion?
"Who are you?" she asked.
"Wait," I replied, "did you just ask me Who are you?"
I would use the following:
"Wait," I replied, "did you just ask me, 'Who are you'?"
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Comma before the quote
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Quoted with single quotation marks (instead of italics, which I'd consider another option)
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Closing quotation mark before the question mark
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Only one question mark (for my question, not the quoted one)
Is this correct?
Solution 1:
Here's the correct version:
"Wait," I replied, "did you just ask me, 'Who are you?' "
Some things to notice:
1. The statement being quoted is a question, so you need the question mark in the embedded quotation marks. You don't need a second question mark. A sentence can have only one end punctuation mark.
2. The comma before the embedded quotation, which follows standard format for introducing a quotation.
3. The space between the single and double quotation marks at the end.
If I were to revise this, I would write this: "Wait," I said. "Did you just ask me who I am?"
Solution 2:
I'd punctuate it like this:
"Wait," I replied, "did you just ask me: 'Who are you?'"
Or I'd simply use Reported Speech to avoid this mess with punctuation:
"Wait," I replied, "did you just ask me who I am?"
Solution 3:
Regarding quotation marks, the standard rule in English is to alternate single and double quotes, beginning with double quotes.
For example:
"He said, 'I have arrived.'"
"Al said, 'Bob told me, "Charlie is here."'"
If a question mark is part of the quote, it goes inside the quotation marks. If it is not part of the quote, it goes outside. If there is a question mark inside the quote and nothing follows it except punctuation, we don't put a period after the quote.
Did Bob really say, "I am here"?
But:
Did Bob ask, "Are you here?"
The only time you'd put punctuation after the quote is if it is not a period, like:
I can't believe that Bob asked, "Are you here?"!
A quote that asks a question that is part of a sentence that asks a question is awkward, but technically should be written:
I asked, "Did Bob really ask, 'Are you here?'?"
Solution 4:
According to this site, you're mostly correct. The one change would be to put the question mark inside the single quotation mark.
"Wait," I replied, "did you just ask me, 'Who are you?'"
Solution 5:
There’s no way round it. If you want to stick to those words it has to be:
"Wait," I replied, "did you just ask me, 'Who are you?'?"
So best not to stick to those words.
I've since found the passage I was looking for in Trask's 'Penguin Guide to Punctuation'. He writes, 'if a sentence would logically end in two question marks, only the first is written.' I can see that doing so makes for less confusion.