Punctuation

Q. Hey, has the Manual of Style tackled this conundrum yet? In Ira Gershwin’s lyric

I got plenty o’ nuttin’
and nuttin’s plenty for me

shouldn’t the second line require a double apostrophe (nuttin’’s)? Wouldn’t a single apostrophe create massive confusion the world over? I pass over the question of the idiomatic usage of nutting for nothing.

Q. I have read the sections on suspension points and em dashes, but I’m still a little confused about when to use them in some instances for a pause or break in the writer’s train of thought. If you use suspension points when the pause is a faltering and an em dash when there’s an interruption or a more abrupt break, how do you handle more “neutral” pauses in a sentence that are neither abrupt nor accompanied by confusion or insecurity? I would lean toward the em dash, but I have an AU that is ellipsis-happy, so it is making me question my judgement. Is an ellipsis okay in the instances below, or would an em dash fit the bill better? “I confidently thought I had his same sense of timing . . . or tie-ming.” “I could sense the potential for a fun, educational television show hosted by none other than . . . me.”

Q. Is a question mark called for in the following sentence? “I wonder when it will stop raining.” I believe that it is a statement and therefore a period is the required punctuation, but I see similar sentences with a question mark so often.

Q. Hello, CMOS! How do I punctuate when a question mark precedes a semicolon: “Why are you writing Matt’s evaluation?; he works in Emily’s office.” CMOS 6.56 tells us what to do when the first of the closely related sentences ends with a period; it looks funny when it ends with a question mark. Clearly, I could just separate it into two sentences. But can this construction be saved?

Q. A sentence in a manuscript: In a landmark collection of essays, The Division of the Kingdoms: Shakespeare’s Two Versions of “King Lear,” a range of scholars made the case . . . The book title is of course in italics—but then how does one treat that comma after Lear, and then the quote mark after the comma? Would the comma be in roman, and then the quote mark in italics?

Q. “The question is: how would you ask Mr. Jones what concerns he has about placing his order today?” Is the question mark correct?

Q. I am a little confused about how to properly use an em dash in the case of independent clauses. I thought that it should not be used to join two independent clauses, but I see it used this way all the time, and there is nothing definitive about its use in this instance in your book. Here’s an example: This plan isn’t like other diets—in fact, it’s not a diet at all. Please help me settle this issue once and for all!

Q. I wrote a report at work, and whenever I wrote a sentence such as “Most businesses pay taxes monthly, however, some small businesses pay taxes quarterly,” the sentence was changed to “Most businesses pay taxes monthly. However, some small businesses pay taxes quarterly.” Is this correct?

Q. When using an ellipsis in a quotation that contains a full sentence and then deletes some of the next sentence, do you use a period at the end of the full sentence followed by a space and the three dots? Then do you capitalize the first word of the next sentence and do you bracket the first letter to show it was not capitalized?

Q. If a sentence is a question and ends with a quote which is not a question, should a question mark be used, and if so, where should it be placed?