At  1:41 PM 10/10/97 -0400, EDWARD VAVRA wrote:
>---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
>Sender:       Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
>              <[log in to unmask]>
>Poster:       EDWARD VAVRA <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject:      Period or Question Mark?
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>When a statement is made about a question, does the
>sentence end with a question mark or with a period.
>For example, should the following sentence end with a
>period or with a question mark?
>
>The question is what are we going to do now
>
>I'm stumped.
>Thanks,
>EV
 
Hi Ed:  The Chicago Manual takes up the issue, but only from the standpoint
of whether the question should be capitalized.  "Generally, the more formal
the question, the more usual it is to begin with a capital letter."  Here
are the examples they give:
He wondered, what for?
Before deciding, ask yourself, will it work?
Pausing with his hand on the doorknob, Stetson bit his lip and wondered,
What if I have been mistaken?
The question still to be decided was, Which of the two strategies would be
less likely to provoke opposition?
 
They also discuss the single-word question:  "When the question consists of
a single word, such as who, when, how, or why, within a sentence, neither
question mark nor capital letter need be used.  In this case the word is
often italicized:
 
The question was no longer how but when.   (Pretend those are in italics!)
 
Martha Kolln