One of my former students sent me an email asking this question: I have
a grammar question I have yet to find an answer to, and I thought, "Who
better to ask than Janet?" So, regarding the use of the word
'wondering', I would like to know if I should use a question mark at the
end of a sentence such as: "I was wondering if you are going to the
store?" or "I wonder why it rains?" My first inclination is that these
are statements, not questions. However, I have run into question marks
at the end of such sentences frequently of late. I must know the truth!

 

I believe I would treat this as reported speech not requiring a question
mark.  What do others think?

 

Janet Castilleja

 

-----Original Message-----
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Ronald Sheen
Sent: Thursday, October 11, 2007 6:20 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [BULK] The necessity for classification was: Those old
transitivity blues was Help for a puzzled teacher
Importance: Low

 

Craig writes:

When classification becomes an end in itself, the living, 
dynamic language gets left behind.

This may be so in the case of purely linguistic analysis.  However, I do
not agree that this reflects the recent comments related to the ESL
context.  Therein, assuming that one is adopting an explicit approach to
explaining the difference between phrasal  and prepositional verbs,
first, one has to have a means of classifying the two, and second, one
has to provide the students with a clear way of distinguishing them.

 

Ron Sheen

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