Sunday, December 11, 2011

Oh, the things I dig up when editing!

While doing final editing of my last English essay ever (YAY!), which my professor kindly let me write using Chicago style (I can competently cite in MLA, but I strongly dislike it), I discovered this:

 Q. Oh, English-language gurus, is it ever proper to put a question mark and an exclamation mark at the end of a sentence in formal writing? This author is giving me a fit with some of her overkill emphases, and now there is this sentence that has both marks at the end. My everlasting gratitude for letting me know what I should tell this person.
A. In formal writing, we allow both marks only in the event that the author was being physically assaulted while writing. Otherwise, no.
The original quotation as well as further amusement can be found here. 

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