Is "Can you call me when you get a chance, I have something to ask you. “, or us it " Can you call me when you get a chance , I have something to ask you?” the correct was to ask?
Both of your options contain exactly the same words in exactly the same order. The only difference is the question mark, so I assume you’re asking about punctuation for the written form.
I would write it:
“Can you call me when you get a chance? I have something to ask you.”
Both of your options contain comma splices.
I’d go with: “Can you call me when you get a chance? I have something to ask you.”
Or possibly: “Call me when you get a chance; I have something to ask you.”
The OP’s example as written calls for two sentences. But instead of comma splicing if it were, for example, “Could you call me when you have a chance because I have something to ask you.” would it end with a question mark or period? I believe in that case it would be a period. And if you reversed it and said “I have something to ask you so could you call me when you get a chance?” that would end with a question mark.
The question mark should only follow a word that is inflected as a query and not a statement.
So not all question begin with a question word?
No?
(… which means “No, they don’t, and I’m surprised/curious you would ask that question to begin with.”)
Many questions are in the form of a statement and the question mark (and inflection of the word when spoken) is all that tells you it’s a quesiton.
For example “He is reading this.” and “He is reading this?” are both grammatically correct.
They do it right in Spanish. A question is delimited on both ends, by ¿ at the beginning and ? at the end. The portion so delimited does not have to be the entire sentence. So if the question itself is only a part of the sentence, only that part is marked with ¿ and ?
Thus, the example given by Crazyhorse, “Could you call me when you have a chance because I have something to ask you.” might be written:
¿Could you call me when you have a chance? because I have something to ask you.
(Spanish speakers: ¿Do I understand this right? how questions may be written.)
There’s also a space before the comma in the second example, and that’s definitely not the way to say it.
So what i really meant was if it were possible to have a sentence begin with a question word when it was not a question.
I would put the question mark in the compound sentence regardless of the order of the clauses, because the independent clause (Can you call me?) is the one with the question. Grammatically, the dependent clauses (when you get a chance and because I have something to ask you) are “extra” to the deep structure. Also, just in terms of pragmatics, the whole thing is a request, and putting the question mark at the end “sustains” the speech act, in a way.
However, this might be more a question for the style guide, especially since this is a representation of dialog.
What a question!
Seriously, though, I’m not understanding what you mean by this. Define “question word.” Are you talking about “who,” “what,” “when,” “where,” “why,” “how”? Why, of course there are ways to start sentences with those words that aren’t questions. But I have a feeling you’re asking something else, but I’m not sure what it is.
No, that what I was asking. It it seems when you say "why, what a question ", why is not a question. Itts like saying “what I mean is…”.
Many “question words” can be used as interjections.
Why, it’s a beautiful day!
What a beautiful day!
How precious!
I can’t think of any for "who, and “when” can of course be used in declaratives in a sense like “When in Rome, do as the Romans.” And “where” in a similar manner: “Where there is smoke, there is fire.”
Just for S&G, lets put a “because” in there. “Can you call me when you get a chance, because I have something to ask you”, And lets say your are a stenographic transcriber, who cannot just change word order around on a whim or interpret the meaning of the statement or correct the grammar of the speaker. Do you put a period or a question mark at the end, since you have to comply with your job parameters – Oh no, I just did it again. I think in that example, Id use a question mark.
Right. No word is inherently a “question word.” It’s how they are used in the whole sentence or utterance (the syntax, etc.) that makes them interrogative.
Think of it in terms of the inflection you would use when speaking.
In the examples of “He is reading this.” and “He is reading this?” When spoken the words ‘reading this’ would be inflected differently in the case of a question.
My recollection is that a question mark should only follow a word that would be inflected as “this” would be in the second example. It’s difficult to communicate this in writing without inflection, but in that example “…because I have something to ask you?” the question mark would mean the word ‘you’ was pronounced as the word “this” would be in the second example above, which would make it sound like you were asking if you had something to ask them instead of telling them that you did.
That’s why the simulposts #2 and #3 both correctly told you to put the question mark after chance, which is where the inflection would be in normal speech.
Yes but the OP is asking about single sentences that contain both a statement and a question. Their example as written was better divided into two sentences but the underlying question isn’t answered with the obvious suggestion of making it two sentences.
If it’s a given that it will be one sentence, as the examples above correctly showed you the inflection of the phrase at the end of the sentence determines the punctuation that follows.
You yourself provided an example of a sentence where the inflection may not be at the end: “Could you call me when you have a chance because I have something to ask you.” The doubled sentence is common in spoken language because people often add words or phrases as they occur without having been planned out from the beginning. Or, IOW, two sentences mashed together without a period. In formal language the sentence would be more properly structured: “Please call me when you have a chance because I have something to ask you.” However, in fiction or transcription, the forms of spoken language must be preserved and readers need some help to determine meaning.
How to convey that in written language without the cue of inflection? Punctuation is one method. If the writer wants to emphasize the questioning first half, then a question mark should be used at the end. If the writer wants to emphasize the statement second half, then a period should be used at the end. Different intentions are signaled. Punctuation is a form of syntax in this example. Neither variant is inherently right; the meaning of the sentence needs that added indicator to enlighten the reader. There are no overarching rules; context matters.