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About Martha Beth Lewis
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I will answer questions having to do with grammar, plurals, punctuation, capitalization, mood, person, tense, and so on, as well as word usage and word choice. If you want a quick answer to a specific question, particularly if you wish to use formal American English for business or academic purposes (MLA), I can give you a timely response. I also can address word choice, clarity, structure, and similar concerns involving English as a second language. If you want advice of a deeper editorial nature (e.g., substantive [line] editing), please consult an Expert who offers this sort of assistance.
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I was employed as an editor for the graduate school at a major U.S. university and specialized in dissertations. I have over 200 publications in professional journals, consumer magazines, and newspapers. I am the author of five books and numerous syllabi in an arts field. I also am a freelance line editor, copyeditor, and proofreader (over 40 years), and I have written or edited countless community organizations' newsletters and promotional materials.
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Note: When using a word as a word in a sentence, such as:
Put a period after the word dog,
=dog= should be set in italics.
Since I do not have access to italics here, I shall use = on either side of the word or phrase that properly should appear in italics. For the above example:
Put a period after the word =dog=.
Also, ~~please do not mark your questions as private~~. I will change them to public because I don't want to type the same answer twice! Thanks for your understanding.
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Ph.D.
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mb
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You are here: Experts > Arts/Humanities > Writing > General Writing and Grammar Help > my apologies!
Expert: Martha Beth Lewis - 11/3/2009
Question
I'm SO sorry...my entire question didn't print the first time! Here it is again:
Hi, I work for a team of school psychologists, and the following sentence (or something similar) occurs frequently. We cannot re-word it, but can't figure out how to punctuate it correctly. Since it's a series, it needs commas, but since they are questions inside quotes, it would be incorrect to have double punctuation marks. However, without comma to separate the items in the series, it is very difficult to read! Help!
During the xyz test, John answered, "Can you help me with this?" "Can you repeat the question?" "May I go back to class soon?" and "Can I take a break?"
Answer
Ignore last answer, then!
I think you are going to have to use commas, even though the eye will "object." Thus:
During the xyz test, John answered, "Can you help me with this?", "Can you repeat the question?", "May I go back to class soon?", and "Can I take a break?"
Another way to word this would be in non-sentence form using a list (bullets or not). Cons of this are that it takes more space on the page and perhaps breaks the visual "flow" of the report. Thus:
During the xyz test, John asked the following questions:
"Can you help...?"
"Can you repeat...?"
"May I...?"
"Can I...?"
Hope this helps.
mb
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