174 Misc. 958 | N.Y. Sup. Ct. | 1940
This is an application for an order directing the municipal civil service commission to correct its rating of the answer given by each of the seventeen petitioners to question
Question No. 34 and the instructions for answering it read as follows:
“ Items 34 to 53 consist of twenty sentences which may be classified under one of the following categories:
“ (A) sentence correct
“ (B) incorrect grammar
“ (C) incorrect punctuation
“ (D) incorrect spelling
“ (E) incorrect choice of words
“ Examine each of the sentences carefully. Then, on the correspondingly numbered row on the Answer Sheet, blacken the space between the pair of lines lettered the same as the answer which is the best of those suggested above. All incorrect sentences contain but one type of error. Consider a sentence correct if it contains none of the types of errors mentioned, even though there may be other correct ways of expressing the same thought.
“ 34. May I help you with your problem of reorganization of the personnel.”
Each of the seventeen petitioners in his answer to the question indicated that the test sentence was incorrectly punctuated with a period, and should have been terminated with a question mark. However, the key or fist of correct answers published by the commission states that the sentence is correctly punctuated with the period. (*([ 17 of petition, undenied in answer.)
Efforts on the part of petitioners to persuade the commission to mark their answer as correct have proved unsuccessful. The director of examinations and the commission have taken the position that “ although a question mark is frequently permissible in a sentence such as that under discussion, the use of the period is absolutely correct,” and that, therefore, petitioners erred in answering that the sentence was incorrectly punctuated.
Had the commission rated petitioners’ answers to question No. 34 as correct, they would all have received the minimum passing mark of 70 on the written examination and their names would have been placed on the promotion list which was promulgated by the commission on or about June 14, 1940. In addition to requesting that their answers to question No. 34 be marked as correct, and that they be given a mark of 70, petitioners ask that such mark be averaged with their respective ratings for seniority
Two issues are presented by this proceeding: (1) Whether the petitioners’ answers to question No. 34 were properly marked as incorrect; and (2) whether the commission’s rating of the answers as incorrect is subject to judicial review even if the answers should have been accepted as correct. These issues will be. taken up in the order indicated.
In support of their contention that the test sentence was incorrectly punctuated with a period, and should have terminated with a question mark, petitioners annex responses received to forty-six letters sent to publishers of standard dictionaries, newspapers and magazines, and to authorities connected with such institutions as universities and the New York Public Library. These letters included a complete quotation of the instructions for answering question No. 34, and requested the addressees to give their answers to the question in accordance with such instructions.
All the replies are to the effect that the test sentence is a direct question and should be punctuated with a question mark. Thus the publishers of Webster’s New International Dictionary state “ the sentence is evidently a direct question, intended by the author to call for assent or declination, and therefore properly to be terminated with a question mark.” The publishers of Funk & Wagnall’s New Standard Dictionaries write that “ the sentence about which you inquire is correctly punctuated with a question mark.” Professor George W. Norvell, supervisor of English for the New York State Regents, replies that “ I should expect a question mark instead of a period at thé end of the sentence.”
Similar answers were received to letters addressed to twenty-eight of the country’s leading universities, including those of Chicago, Cornell, Yale, California, Leland Stanford, Northwestern, Duke and Washington; and also to letters sent to the State Boards of Education of Massachusetts, Connecticut and Delaware, and to the English departments of two New York city high schools. The New York Times responded that “ since the sentence quoted in your letter of May 4th is a question, it should be followed by a question mark.” The editorial department of the New York Herald Tribune replied that “ We would terminate the sentence you cite with a question mark since it is cast in the interrogative form.” The New York Post answered that “ There should be a question mark at the end of the sentence.” The editor of The Reader’s Digest declares that “ The sentence you quote is unmistakably a question and should accordingly be punctuated with the usual interrogation mark.” The chief of the reference department
In attempted justification of its action in marking petitioners’ answers as wrong, the commission takes the position that although the sentence could properly have been punctuated with a question mark, the use of the period was also permissible. Accordingly, argues the commission, petitioners were wrong when they answered that the sentence was incorrectly punctuated with a period. Attention is called by the commission in this connection to the instruction: “ Consider a sentence correct if it contains none of the types of errors mentioned even though there may be other correct ways of expressing the same thought.”
Viewed in the light of the imposing array of authorities relied upon by petitioners for the proposition that the sentence was incorrectly punctuated with a period, and that the only correct punctuation would have been a question mark, the commission’s effort to establish that it was permissible to terminate the sentence with a period appears feeble. Associate Professor Naugle of Yale and Professor Compton of the College of the City of New York are quoted as stating that the use of the period is permissible; and another professor at New York University as declaring that
All the other opinions cited by the commission in its favor fail to support its ruling that the test sentence may properly be punctuated with a period. Thus, the statement in “ Standard Handbook for Secretaries,” by Lois Irene Hutchinson, that “ If an answer is not expected, and the question is intended as a suggestion or request, no question mark is necessary,” is inapplicable to question No. 34 since there is nothing in the sentence to indicate that no answer was expected. On the contrary, the wording of the sentence is such, as all the petitioners’ authorities agree, that an answer is obviously expected. As will presently be pointed out, the illustrations used by the author to support the text are clearly distinguishable, for they manifestly expect action rather than a yes or no answer. (Specific reference will presently be made to all the illustrations in the textbooks or manuals relied upon by the commission.)
The next authority cited by the commission is “ The Secretary’s Handbook,” written by two high school English teachers, Taintor and Monro. It states that “ A technically interrogative sentence — disguised as a question out of courtesy, but actually embodying a request — does not need the interrogation point,” and also instructs the reader to “ place a period after a request.” (Italics the Court’s.) This work is not an authority for punctuating the test sentence with a period; for, as previously observed, the sentence contains nothing to characterize it as a mere request, but, rather, appears on its face to call definitely for an answer in the affirmative or negative. Indeed, this is recognized by one of the coauthors of this very book — Sarah Augusta Taintor — who has written to petitioners that “ The sentence [in question No. 34] is really a a question and should be followed by a question mark.”
Equally inapplicable, for similar reasons, are the statements (1) in Brown’s “ The Secretary’s Desk Book,” that a rhetorical question framed in the form of a question for the sake of effect does not require a question mark; (2) in Towner’s “ Correct English ” that “ after a courteous request expressed in interrogative form ” (italics the court’s) a period should be used; (3) in “ Manual of Style,”
It is important to note that none of the various treatises above discussed, beginning with that of Hutchinson, makes any reference to the specific sentence involved in question No. 34, as do all petitioners’ forty-six authorities. All that these works do is to state as a general principle that a sentence, interrogative in form, which does not call for an answer but in reality is merely a request or either rhetorical or exclamatory in nature, may be punctuated with a period. The applicability of this general principle to the test sentence, rather than the correctness of the principle itself, is the point in issue here. The very examples which accompany the texts of the various manuals and handbooks above mentioned, demonstrate their inapplicability .to the test sentence: “ May we ask for a prompt payment ” (payment, not a yes or no answer is called for); “ Would it not be well to do it that way ” (a rhetorical question — no answer expected); “ Will you please send it to this address ” (the sending, not a yes or no answer, is anticipated); “ May we hear from you promptly ” (a prompt reply, not a yes or no answer, is contemplated); “ May I have your answer by next Friday ” (similar to preceding sentence); “ Will you kindly sign and return the inclosed card ” (return of the signed card, not an affirmative or negative answer, is asked for); “ May I ask you to come early ” (early arrival rather than an answer is requested); “ May we suggest that you immediately notify the bank to cancel this check ” (notification to bank rather than answer asked for) ; “ Were ever words more fitly spoken ” (a rhetorical question calling for no answer); “ Will you please send us your new fall catalog of musical supplies ” (sending of catalog rather than answer contemplated) ; “ Will you please lend me your dictionary ” (loan of dictionary rather than answer anticipated); “ Will you please close the door ” (similar to preceding sentence); “ Will you be kind enough to write soon about this ” (early writing rather than answer called for).
The only remaining illustration to be found in the manuals cited by the commission is taken from “ The Secretary’s Handbook,” by Taintor and Monro, and is undoubtedly the most closely analogous to the test sentence: “ May I not help you with your problem of reorganization of the Advertising Department ” (italics
Other than the inapplicable quotations from the handbooks and manuals already discussed, the only authority cited by the commission as supporting its position consists of the statements of the three professors previously referred to, and a quotation from “ Successful Letter Writing ” by Aline E. Hower, to the effect that “ Some authorities hold that a question mark should follow a question of courtesy.” What the author meant by “ a question of courtesy ” is not stated, and no illustrations are given. Whether the test sentence is “ a question of courtesy ” within the meaning of the text does not appear. Thus, as against the forty-six recognized authorities of various kinds which definitely take the view that punctuation with a period is incorrect, there are really only three who express the opinion that the period is also permissible.
Comparing petitioners’ authorities with those of the commission, both as to numbers and quality, it is difficult to escape the conclusion that the overwhelming weight of expert opinion supports the answer of petitioners that the test sentence was incorrectly punctuated with a period instead of a question mark. That the sentence is interrogative in form is not the decisive element; but rather the fact that its contents fail utterly to suggest that no answer is expected, either because the sentence is only rhetorical or exclamatory, or else for the reason that only some act is requested or called for. There is nothing in the sentence “ May I help you with your problem of reorganization of the personnel ” to indicate that it is not also a question in substance, as well as in form.
The fact that the instructions for answering the series of questions in which question No. 34 is found, stated that a sentence was to be considered correct if it contained none of the types of errors mentioned, even though there might be “ other correct ways of
The court has not overlooked the fact that under special circumstances the sentence “ May I help you with your problem of reorganization of the personnel ” may be used without expecting any answer, in which case punctuation with a period might be permissible. For example, if the person uttering the sentence proceeded simultaneously, without waiting for a response, to assist the person addressed, use of a period instead of a question mark might be proper. Similarly, a gentleman stooping to pick up a handkerchief dropped by a lady and proffering its return with a polite “ May I,” expects no answer, and if the episode were being described in writing, a period might be permissible. Examples might be multiplied indefinitely. It does not follow, however, that the test sentence, standing by itself and without anything in the context or elsewhere to indicate that no answer was expected, and that the assistance was being proffered without awaiting a reply, is correctly punctuated with a period. The point is that the fact that under some special or unusual conditions a sentence, interrogative in form, may not call for an answer, and may, therefore, be properly punctuated with a period, is insufficient justification for the view that the sentence “ May I help you with your problem of reorganization of the personnel ” may be correctly punctuated with a period, in the absence of anything in the context or in the instructions to suggest that the sentence was used under such conditions that no answer was expected.
Nor may the commission derive any comfort in this connection from the instruction “ Consider a sentence correct if it contains none of the types of errors mentioned, even though there may be other' correct ways of expressing the same thought.” “ Expressing the same thought ” can only refer to subdivision E of the general instructions for answering questions 34 to 53, i. e., incorrect choice of words. However, even if the instruction had read “ even though there may be other correct ways of punctuating the sentence,” it would not avail the commission; for this language would not be equivalent to an instruction that the candidates were to consider the test sentence correct, even if its punctuation with the period were proper under special and unusual circumstances not disclosed in the sentence itself or elsewhere in the examination paper.
For the reasons set forth, the motion is granted. Settle order.