Punctuation

Ganges

Suggest improvements for the highlighted problem area: Girish asked how the river was named? Mr Lobo explained that the Ganges River is named after the female spirit Ganga. It all started when King Sagara's 60,000 sons were incinerated by a sage for their excessive pride. How would their ashes ever be purified. Years later, another king, King Bhagirathi, ascended the great mountains to do penance for the sins of Sagara's many sons. When King Bhagirathi's penance was complete, he began to walk down from the mountains. Meanwhile, up in heaven, Ganga was so taken by his goodness that she cried out, "Wait. Wait for me." Ganga descended from heaven and followed the good king through the Himalayan foothills, across the northern plains, and into the jungles of the east. They arrived at the Bay of Bengal one morning at 6 A.M.. As the sun rose, the ashes of Sagara's sons were purified and those 60,000 souls attained paradise at last. Answer: - The Question Mark - Another sentence in the opening paragraph makes a mistake with end punctuation: How would their ashes ever be purified. This sentence is a direct question. Therefore, it must end with a question mark: How would their ashes ever be purified? One place where question marks can be used in a different way is shown by our change to the following example: King Sagara was in a panic: will they find peace, roam in limbo, achieve paradise? By putting question marks after each question mark, we give the reader a more dynamic construct: King Sagara was in a panic: will they find peace? roam in limbo? achieve paradise?

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