When is a Question Not a Question?

There are times when something appears to be a question, but really is a polite request that does not require a question mark:

  • May I ask you to please return my call before 5 o'clock.
  • Will everyone without a ticket please contact the box office by Friday noon.
  • Could you please send me a list of your core competencies.

When you consider how it would sound if you were speak these requests, you likely would not raise your pitch at the end as you would when asking a question. You are not really asking someone to do something to which they could reply yes or no; you are making a request that you expect to be met.

Here are two examples that imply query, but as indirect questions they don't require a question mark. Contrast them with the true question that follows each:

  • I wonder if she left her purse in the grocery cart.
    (Did she leave her purse in the grocery cart?)
  • How about leaving 20 minutes early so that I can stop at the pharmacy. 
    (Could we leave 20 minutes early so that I can stop at the pharmacy?)

Here are two more examples where someone might — incorrectly — use a question mark rather than a period. Again, contrast each statement with the query form that follows:

  • She did a great job, didn't she. 
    (Didn't she do a great job?)
  • Aren't you the clever one.
    (Are you the clever one?)

When you're writing something that, if spoken, would sound more like a statement than a question — i.e. if you are not inclined to raise your pitch at the end — don't close with a question mark.

Ruthless Editor follows The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law guidelines for word and punctuation usage. Webster's New World College Dictionary serves as a secondary reference.

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