comma or question mark?

[Tan Elaine]

One Sunday night, my family went shopping, leaving me alone. “Hey! Aren’t they inconsiderate?/inconsiderate! They didn’t even wake me up to tell me that they were going out,” I exclaimed. Then I turned on the lights and did my English homework, which I had to hand in to the teacher the following day.

Should I use a question mark or an exclamation mark next to 'inconsiderate'? I think an exclamation mark could be used because it emphasises 'inconsiderate'. However, I wonder if a question mark is obligatory.

Many thanks.

[MrPedantic]

Hello TE,

I would use an exclamation mark: cf. "i exclaimed".

(It's an exclamation in the form of a question, i.e. a rhetorical question.)

All the best,

MrP

[Tan Elaine]

Originally Posted by MrPedantic

Hello TE,

I would use an exclamation mark: cf. "i exclaimed".

(It's an exclamation in the form of a question, i.e. a rhetorical question.)

All the best,

MrP

What is 'cf.", may I know?

Thanks.

[MrPedantic]

Sorry, "cf." = "compare".

(And "i exclaimed" should have been "I exclaimed"!)

MrP

[Tan Elaine]

Originally Posted by MrPedantic

Sorry, "cf." = "compare".

(And "i exclaimed" should have been "I exclaimed"!)

MrP

Thanks, MrP.

'cf' stands for 'compare'. I'm curious to know how 'cf' came to stand for 'compare' instead of say 'cp' or 'ce'. Is 'cf' derived from the short form of a word from another language?

[Eden Darien]

Originally Posted by Tan Elaine

Thanks, MrP.

'cf' stands for 'compare'. I'm curious to know how 'cf' came to stand for 'compare' instead of say 'cp' or 'ce'. Is 'cf' derived from the short form of a word from another language?

cf:
- is an abbreviation for the Latin word confer
- used in writing to introduce something else that should be compared or considered.


Hope this helps...