How would you punctuate this sentence: What happened in these classes when someone raised his or her hand and asked a simple question: Why? The reason I'm asking is because everything before the colon is a question, and yet so is the word "why" after the colon. There are two questions here. Is the one question mark sufficient to cover both, even though they're really separate questions? I've stumped myself. I could word everything differently, but I don't want to do so.
The wording is sloppy. You put your prepositional phrase in front of the modifier and that is confusing (in these classes when...). It also doesn't help that you used "someone," which is generally a bad choice because it is vague. Try: What happened when a student raised his or her hand and asked a simple question in these classes? As for the :Why?, I think that should be a separate question. What happened when a student raised his or her hand and asked a simple question in these classes? Why? If you wanted to be even more specific and make the question even easier to understand, you could go with: In these classes, what happened when a student raised his or her hand and asked a simple question? Why? That sets the preposition off by itself and helps to define the parameters of the sentence. Man, when your father is an English teacher (now professor) and your primary English teacher in high school was named Ms. Stressman (honestly), you really learn your grammar!
I disagree with the double question mark. A colon is necessary to explain to the reader that "Why?" is the simple question. Otherwise, the sentences essentially read like this: 'What happened? Why did it happen?' It must be gramatically correct to have the colon and only one question mark--just because it works logically and verbally. Though I'd bet the Little, Brown Reader doesn't cover such a situation. The English language is such a mess, there are exceptions all over the place.
If your point is to state that the student asks "Why?" in class, you could try: "When someone raised his or her hand in these classes and asked 'Why?', what happened?" The phrase "simple question" can be left unsaid as it seems obvious that "Why?" is straight-forward. Unless, of course, the preceding description is leading up to an emphasis on the simplicity of it. If that's the case, you could use the above sentence with "simply asked" instead of just "asked".
If I were rephrasing, I would go with: What occured in these classes when someone simply raised their hand and asked the question 'why'?
I made the mistake in thinking this was a two-part question. DOH! I see now that you are asking what happened when someone asked the question "Why?" I asked my father the English teacher and he said that if you wanted to keep the sentence as you wrote it, it would be written as follows: What happened in these classes when someone raised his or her hand and asked the simple question, "Why?" He recommended changing 'a' to 'the' as MacBeth suggested. Also, only one question mark, not two. He agreed with me that it would be better worded if you moved the preposition to the front and wrote the whole thing like this: In these classes, what happened when someone raised his or her hand and asked the simple question, "Why?" Sorry for the confusion. Hope that helps.
Techncially, that's not the same question. In the original sentence, "simple" refers to the asking of the question, "Why?" not the way in which the question was asked. I'm too damn picky.
The question rephrased; Hmmm....a jedi to be you want? Hmmm, yes. In these classes, asked a simple question someone did. Mm-hmm, yes. Happened then what did? Hmm? Why? Hmm, yes. Fo' sheezie.
Not really grammar but here are a few questions: What is the name of words that are spelled will be spelled the same if you spelled them backwards? Examples: madam, sexes, noon What are words called that sound the same but have different meanings? Examples: (Pear, pair) (Cent, Scent) (Mill, Meal) I learned this stuff back in 4th grade and can't remember it now and it's been bugging me.
Palindromes are fun. I don't remember learning palindromes in fourth grade, however. What happened in the Hangout forum when Traj posted under his or her moniker and asked the simple question, "How the **** do you punctuate this ****ing sentence?"
