A look back to 1906, when the more straitlaced 1st edition of the Manual offered intriguing punctuation!, puzzling spaces ?, and curious examples . . .
116. The interrogation point is used to mark a query, or to express a doubt:
“Who is this ?” The prisoner gave his name as Roger Crowninshield, the son of an English baronet (?).
Indirect questions, however, should not be followed by an interrogation point:
He asked whether he was ill.
117. The interrogation point should be placed inside the quotation marks only when it is a part of the quotation:
The question: “Who is who, and what is what?” Were you ever in “Tsintsinnati” ?
Here’s a facsimile of the 1906 1st edition of Chicago’s Manual of Style.
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