Grammar Nerd: It Isn’t Really a Question

By: Sydnee Bagovich

Another example on the grammar Oops! list that I see quite often are question marks after sentences that are not questions. Writers get confused, because a word is in the sentence that usually indicates a question. Here is a real-world example:

A local private investigation company’s sign beckoned new customers with: “When you need to know?” The owner’s implied message was, “When you need to know…call me!” The problem with the message as it was written is that it is not a question, but before I explain exactly why this is not a question, let’s do a little review of sentence types. See what you remember from elementary school English here! There are four sentence types: Declarative, Imperative, Interrogative and Conditional. Sounding familiar?

Declarative Sentences are statements: We are leaving soon. It looks like rain.

Imperative Sentences issue commands: Look at that! Let’s go this way. You might recall that these sentences have “You, understood” as the subject, so in the first example, Look at that, the sentence starts with a verb, not a subject, as is typical in a sentence. So, it is understood that you is the subject, hence You, understood: (You) look at that. (You) let us go this way. That one is a little awkward, but you get the idea, right?

Interrogative Sentences ask questions and typically end with a question mark. Do you know what you want to order? Are you sure about that? Taking that one step farther, these sentences can be turned around into their declarative state by moving around the subject and verb: You do know what you want to order. You are sure about that.

Finally, Conditional Sentences indicate dependencies between events or conditions. If you want to go, we will need to register. Since you asked, I will tell you.

So, now that you are well versed in sentence types, let’s get back to our original argument with more examples:

I wonder if he will be here. We questioned his motives. Please ask if you need help. See if you can guess the answer. I will have to think about that. We thought long and hard about what he said. And here is the Grand Poobah of them all: Guess what! So, from the lesson above, can you say what kinds of sentences they are? Do they ask questions, are they making statements, are they issuing commands? Give yourself a gold star if you recognize that not one of these is a question—or interrogative sentence. They are all declarative or imperative: making a statement or issuing a command. Period, not question mark!

With all of that, do you understand why the original example should have said, “When you need to know.” with a period and not a question mark?

_________________________

As with all of my topics, I hope that you find this helpful. Send me an email at grammar.nerd@yahoo.com, if I can clarify further or if you have a grammar question for me.

Visit my website at www.thegrammarnerd.com, or friend my The Grammar Nerd Facebook fan page for more tips and tricks! You can also see articles that I write on Examiner.com: http://www.examiner.com/user-sydnee-bagovich, which present articles with a Pittsburgh flare.

Sydnee Bagovich provides professional proofreading services for your business: websites, brochures, presentations… You write it. She makes it right. You can reach her at grammar.nerd@yahoo.com.