Question

Choose the sentence (s) which is/ are punctuated correctly. 

1. Jan asked; “What did Joe mean when he said, ‘I will see you later.'"
2. Jan asked, “What did Joe mean when he said, ‘I will see you later?""
3. Jan asked, “What did Joe mean when he said, ‘I will see you later?"
4. Jan asked, “What did Joe mean when he said, ‘I will see you later'?”

Options

• II

• I

• IV

• III

Answer 1

III The sentence has a main clause 'Jan asked' with three dependent clauses: (1) what did Joe mean (2) when he said (3) I will see you later. It is clear that whatever Jan is asking will end in a question mark and will be enclosed within inverted commas: Jan asked, "What did…….?" Now Jan's question contains the statement of Joe, which has to be put in single inverted commas to demarcate it from other words in Jan's question: 'I will see you later'
So, option III shows the correct punctuation.