I recently had someone reach out to me with the following question:
My partner and I are having a debate about something linguistic, and I thought I’d pass it on to you for your opinion. This is a rhetorical request or command that is in a manuscript I am working on, and it goes like this: “Hold this, will you, Gerald.”
Would you end that quote with a question mark or period?
This is a great question, and I could see why it might confuse people.
The Chicago Manual of Style provides some guidance:
A polite request disguised as a question does not always require a question mark. Such formulations can usually be reduced to the imperative.
Will the audience please rise.
Would you kindly respond by March 1.
or
Please respond by March 1.
So, the CMOS says that in instances like these, you don’t need to use a question mark. At the same time, however, a question mark isn’t taboo. As an alternative, you could just reword it into an actual request, rather than a question. For the example submitted by the reader, they could’ve used instead:
Please hold this, Gerald.
The reason why the question mark isn’t required is probably because it’s a question that doesn’t need answering. No one is asking Gerald to hold the object is expecting Herald to say yes or no.
