Question

Identify the right option:
              “What are we having for dinner” asked Jane.
A. “What are we having for dinner.” asked Jane.
B. “What are we having for dinner” asked Jane?
C. “What are we having for dinner? asked Jane.”
D. “What are we having for dinner?” asked Jane.

Answer 1

Hint:In the given sentences, the punctuation marks have been displaced in different ways. The most suitable approach towards solving such questions can be to look for the option in which an appropriate usage of the punctuation marks has been made.

Complete answer:
A brief explanation of the options shall make it clearer-
The sentence here has placed the full stop before the completion of the statement. Such a case makes the arbitrary use of punctuation marks which isn’t in favour of the rules of English language. According to the rules, the full stop should be placed at the end of the sentence. Therefore, this option is incorrect.

The option is incorrect because here the sentence is, by nature, a statement and not a question. Thus, the correct punctuation at the end of the statement should be a full stop (.); also, as a question has been asked within the double inverted commas (“”), so it should have been followed by a question mark (?).

The option is incorrect because the entire sentence isn’t a direct speech or a statement made by someone. Jane had asked a question so only the question had to be quoted, not the entire sentence. We know, only the statements, questions, or exclamations made by someone are quoted within “…”.

This option follows the most suitable format for the required answer. The quoted question has ended with a question mark and the sentence has ended with a full stop; hence all the punctuations are appropriately placed. Thus, (d) is the correct option here.

 Hence, the correct answers are Option ‘D’.

Note:So, a briefing of the concept and rules helps us to conclude that the most appropriate answer is option (d). In all the other cases, the improper use of punctuations has rendered them incorrect. Why do we need punctuation is because with the use of apt spacing, conventional signs (known as punctuation marks), etc. to prepare a properly understandable and formulated text which is comprehendible whether read silently or dictated to others. The most common types of punctuation marks are-
Comma (,)
Colon (:)
Semi-colon (;)
Exclamation (!)
Asterisk (*)
Question mark (?)
Parentheses ()
Quotation marks (“ ”), etc.