¶ Use great care in distinguishing between Oh !, an interjection expressing pain or surprise, and the vocative O, expressing a wish or an imprecation, which does not call for the exclamation-point: e.g., “Oh ! what damned minutes tells he o’er !” and “O that I had wings like a dove !”
THE INTERROGATION
The interrogation-point is formed from the first and last letters of the Latin word quaestio (a question) placed one over the other; as {16}
. It should always be placed outside the quotation-marks unless it is a part of the quotation itself.
1. Every sentence containing a direct question should close with an interrogation-point: e.g., When can this order be shipped ? We have received a letter which asks, “What date can you give us for shipping these goods ?”
2. The interrogation-point is used to express doubt: e.g., This volume is said to be bound in real ( ?) morocco.
3. Indirect questions do not take the interrogation-point: e.g., He inquired when it would be ready.
QUOTATION-MARKS
1. Enclose every direct quotation in double quotation-marks: e.g., “I insist upon it,” he said; “there is no alternative.”