punctuation - Where do we put the question mark in a long question/statement?


Without the question mark, it is simple...



Can we make it in one hour — as I want to eat my dinner now.



(I like the dash as a clear separator for the question and statement parts of the sentence)


Adding a question mark, it looks wrong to me in all permutations. What should I be doing with this?



Can we make it in one hour as I want to eat my dinner now?
Can we make it in one hour? as I want to eat my dinner now.
Can we make it in one hour — as I want to eat my dinner now?
Can we make it in one hour? — as I want to eat my dinner now.




Answer



This statement would obviously occur only in a non-formal context or as a direct quotation in a formal context. In either case, no formal ‘rule’ applies.


Instead, placement of the question mark should be guided by the actual phonetic contour of the utterance. There will almost certainly be an elevated tone on ‘hour’, which would call for a question mark. There may also be an elevated pitch on ‘dinner now’, if the speaker is requesting rather than demanding time to eat; if so, this would call for a second question mark.


In either case, I would use the dash. It sets off the second clause without detaching it, as capitalizing ‘As’ would.


So either of these:



Can we make it in one hour? — as I want to eat my dinner now.
Can we make it in one hour? — as I want to eat my dinner now?



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