Question for Oedi/The Grammar Police re: Punctuation.

[Dangerously Amused]

Sorry to bug you, but I did look for the answer to this and can't find it.


When a word or phrase or sentence in italics precedes an exclamation point or question mark, do you also italicize the exclamation point or question mark?

This: Holy crap! He said what?

OR

This: Holy crap! He said what?


The latter seems correct to me, but I can't find any authority re: this issue. Thanks.

[billyskank]

1. I have been wanting to know this for ages.

:hi:

:hug:

[Dangerously Amused]

3. Hey doll!

:* :* :*

[billyskank]

5. Back at ya

:* :* :* :*

[KitchenWitch]

2. I am curious about this as well.

[Dangerously Amused]

4. A burning question indeed!

Hiya Kitchy!


:hi:

[Shiver]

6. It depends on the context

If the italics are used to denote thought, then the punctuation would be italicized as well. If it's merely emphasis in spoken word, then the punctuation goes as normal.

[Dangerously Amused]

7. Thanks!

Now let's see if I can get a new grammar rule to gel in my cranium. :/

[flvegan]

8. I believe the latter, and that it should be in all caps.

:popcorn:

[Dangerously Amused]

11. Tsk tsk tsk. Right on cue, stirring up trouble again.

A mere popcorn smilie will never camouflage your guilt.

[supernova]

9. Keep the punctuation w/ the preceding words

Excellent punctuation isn't supposed to call attention to itself. You're supposed to just concentrate on the meaning of the words without saying to yourself "Holy crap ... Exclamation point!"

so your second version is correct, IMO.

BUT, dialogue needs to be set off with quotation marks.

Italics are properly reserved for titles, or formal quotations of other works, words from other languages, or proceedings of some type. So, I would use quote marks and not italics in that instance.

edit, so I would write it as:

Holy crap! He said, "What?"

[Dangerously Amused]

12. Heh, I'm writing dialog, so I'm working with quotation marks as well.

I figured that I would try to resolve this issue first and worry about the quotation marks later, to keep things simple. But yeah, that begs the question as to whether and when one italicizes the quotation marks surrounding the italicized type.

Thanks!

:hi:

[InternalDialogue]

10. From Chicago Style Manual:

6.3 Punctuation and font: primary system. All punctuation marks should appear in the same font -- roman or italic -- as the main surrounding text, except for punctuation that belongs to a title or an exclamation in a different font

Examples:

Are you saying the wound was self-inflicted? (I think this is the answer to your question -- the punctuation takes on the attributes of the main sentence, non-italicized, in the case of "He said what?" But your example of Holy crap! is the main text for that sentence, so that exclamation point would be italicized. So I actually think your correctly italicized sentence would have one each way.)

She is the author of What Next?

For light entertainment he reads King Lear!

We heard his cries of "Help!"

6.5 Punctuation and font: alternative system. According to a more traditional system, periods, commas, colons, and semicolons should appear iin the same font as the word, letter, character, or symbol immediately preceding them if different from that of the main or surrounding text. Question marks and exclamation points, however should appear in the same font as the immediately preceding word only if they belong to a title or an exclamation.

[Dangerously Amused]

13. Thank you! Although I think my brain just blew a gasket.

Seriously, thank you for that authority. Very helpful.

[frogmarch]

14. If

"what?" is said by the same speaker who said "Holy crap!" I think this is the way to punctuate it. Also, the H in the tag "He said" should be lower case.

"Holy crap!" he said. "What?"

If there are two different speakers, then "What?" should be in its own paragraph.

"Holy crap!" he said.

"What?"

[Dangerously Amused]

15. Thank you! And I love your avi! :D