h a l f b a k e r yOn the one hand, true. On the other hand, bollocks.
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Quomma
A new punctuation mark. | |
To sit in between queries and declarative statements in conversational writing to indicate the tone. The mark would be a hybrid of the curl of a question mark with the twist of a comma.
Examples:
"Are you trying to imitate a famous author <quomma> or is this your normal writing style <conventional
question mark>"
"You really like this opera (quomma) because I think that it sucks <conventional period>"
When recording long strings of dialog in conventional English the presence of the Quomma cues you to the emotional rise of the preceding words while allowing you smoothly transition into the remainder of the sentence.
Semiquestion
Semiquestion
Same thing? [jutta, May 31 2009]
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I thought it was going to be a cross between a quotation mark and a comma, like this: ,, |
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Perhaps you would use the "?" without the "." on the bottom. |
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We've discussed a similar punctuation mark before under the name "Semiquestion". If they're different in your eyes, when would one use one, when the other? |
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The semiquestion would be apropos when a complete questioning statement is followed by a complete declarative construction. The Quomma is used when a complete or fragmentary query is followed by a second complete or fragmentary construction. Similar to a comma the Quomma is intended to cause a brief pause without the abruptness of a full stop. |
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Sadly neither of these ideas seems to get any traction. Pedants hate change. Pedaints don't want the complexity of a new punctuation mark. |
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That's the weirdest conspiracy theory I've heard all day. |
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Allow me to be the first pedant to pedantize your proposed punctuation mark. In your first example sentence, the second phrase is also a question, and thus should end with either a quomma or a conventional question mark. |
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Good point. I'll correct it. |
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Semiquestion alludes to this slightly, but I haven't seen it stated outright*:
The question mark and exclamation mark both include a period, and
that's what makes them terminal punctuation marks. If you swap that
period for a comma, then one of them will be what both this idea and
that one suggest, and the other will be the obvious exclamatory
counterpart. |
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*before I clicked the patent application link on Semiquestion, that is. I
didn't know you could patent punctuation marks. |
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//I didn't know you could patent punctuation marks// Really (Quomma, not Semiquestion) the ways people earn money these days. |
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I just realized that the following combinations are necessary
as well: semicolon + question mark, semicolon +
exclamation mark. The question or exclamation mark part
will probably have to be shortened to accommodate the
period part of the semicolon. |
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[notexactly]; the semi-colon is a rare beast these days. Most
people seem to have forgotten that it exists, let alone how
to use it.
<Aside> a couple of years ago a friend of mine was doing a
(basic-level) writing course, and a question from the teacher
was whether anyone had used a semi-colon. </aside> |
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