# Grammar question

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question/807684>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 28, 2018, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question/807684 "2018-01-28T23:15:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\
**Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 2:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question/807684/21 "2018-01-30T02:56:57Z")

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> [@Crazyhorse](#):
>
> 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.

I like your point. The person rendering the quote in print knows whether it is upward inflected at the end, and conveys that in the only way possible, by the choices of punctuation

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**Author:** ![jtur88](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e9c0ed/32.png) [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)\
**Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question/807684/22 "2018-01-30T03:08:57Z")

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“Because” nearly always functions as some form of a conjunction, with a complete sentence before and after it. Either of those sentences can be a questions.

A comma often provides a valuable clue. “Did she call you because you are her cousin?” is quite different from "“Did she call you, because you are her cousin?” The first one implies a reason for a call that took place, the second asks if a call took place. The second one might not take a question mark.

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**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\
**Post date:** [January 30, 2018, 4:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammar-question/807684/23 "2018-01-30T04:44:09Z")

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> [@Crazyhorse](#):
>
> 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.

It’s interesting to note that “He is reading this?” can be multiple different questions, based on how words are emphasized:  
HE is reading this?  
He IS reading this?  
He is READING this?  
He is reading THIS?  
HE is reading THIS?  
etc.

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