6-15-04 Question or Statement?

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#006699" TEXT="#080000" background="042d05a3.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" ><B>Big Ring Media Team, Inc.</B></FONT><B>    </B><B> |     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Big Ring Media Team, Inc."><B>home</B></A></div> <bR> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=210 BGCOLOR="#FFCC66" TEXT="#080000" background="043d2123.jpg"> <div> Click on this link to return to <A HREF="id39.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Word Watch by Date">Word Watch by Date</A>.</div> <div> Click on this link to go to <A HREF="id40.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Word Watch by Subject">Word Watch by Subject</A>.</div> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 width="100%" BGCOLOR="#FFFFFF" TEXT="#080000"> <div> <I>6-15-04 Question or Statement?</I></div> <div> Is it an interrogative (questioning) or a declarative sentence? More and more copy editors seem to be struggling with this. Here's but one example we've found, taken from <I>The Elegant Universe</I>, by Brian Greene*: </div> <div> “The question we ask is whether the moving light clock will tick at the same rate as the stationary light clock?” (Page 39 of the March 2000 Vintage Books paperback edition.)</div> <div> This is not a question. It is a declarative statement. If it were to be a question, it would have to be recast in one of several ways, such as:</div> <div> “The question we ask is this: Does the moving light clock tick at the same rate as the stationary light clock?” </div> <div> - Or  -</div> <div> “We ask ourselves, does the moving light clock tick at the same rate as the stationary light clock?”</div> <div> - Or - </div> <div> “This raises a question. Does the moving light clock tick at the same rate as the stationary light clock?”</div> <div> Somehow we have to set off the interrogative portion of this sentence. We can do it with punctuation, as in the first two examples, or by breaking the original sentences into two sentences, as in the third example. Note that we've also changed the verb. Depending on sentence construction, certain verbs serve as good indicators of an interrogative: “does” (our choice here), “will,” “how,” and “when” are common examples.</div> <div> Here are some other examples of statements that sort of masquerade as questions, which are also recast as questions:</div> <div> Dad wanted to know why Sarah got home so late.</div> <div> Dad wanted to know, why did Sarah get home so late?</div> <div> Dave wondered if Debbie would remember to pick up dog food.</div> <div> Dave wondered, would Debbie remember to pick up dog food?</div> <div> The fundamental question is whether the employee had received adequate safety training.</div> <div> Here is the fundamental question: Had the employee received adequate safety training?</div> <div> It may help to read the sentence out loud. Questions usually end with an upward vocal inflection. Try reading these two sentences aloud, and listen for the difference:</div> <div> You've never owned a dog.</div> <div> You've never owned a dog?</div> <div> Chances are your voice rose slightly at the end of the second sentence because it is a question. If you read what you've cast as a question and your voice doesn't rise, chances are it's not a question at all, no matter how it looks in print.</div> <div> *Our fussing over the copyediting is by no means a criticism of Greene's excellent book. If you've been looking for an approachable overview of relativity, quantum mechanics, string theory and all the other intricacies of our evolving view of the universe, this is it. Read it and Greene's follow-up, <I>The Fabric of the Cosmos</I> (Knopf, 2004), to become firmly ensconced in tech geek nirvana.</div> </td> </tr></table></body>