Punctuating an internal question

1) is okay, but you could say more simply, George wondered why Tom had taken that action.

And depending upon the POV you may not need a tag, or italics.

For example, in George's POV -

George read the letter in disbelief, then gazed into space. Why had Tom taken that action?

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It's obvious it's what George is thinking.

=TwoTrees;9384211]At the risk of being sent back to grade school, how should I correctly punctuate the following sort of sentence?

1) Why did Tom take that action, George wondered?

2) Why did Tom take that action? George wondered.

3) Why did Tom take that action? George wondered.

Sometimes you just look at something for so long it looks incorrect even when it's just fine.

Thanks!

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TwoTrees said:

At the risk of being sent back to grade school, how should I correctly punctuate the following sort of sentence?

1) Why did Tom take that action, George wondered?

2) Why did Tom take that action? George wondered.

3) Why did Tom take that action? George wondered.

Sometimes you just look at something for so long it looks incorrect even when it's just fine.

Thanks!

Click to expand...

I would leave George out of it completely. As long as it's clear we're in George's POV, it should be obvious he's the one who's wondering about Tom's motivation. You could use italics if you wanted to emphasize that it's interior dialogue, but I don't think they're necessary.

Why did Tom take that action?
OR
Why did Tom take that action?

I agree with Bufty. If you're writing in close 3rd in George's POV, using "George wondered" is unnecessary filtering. In this case, use Bufty's suggestion.

If you're writing in something other than close 3rd, I'd be inclined to remove the awkward question mark placement by flipping the sentence around:

"George wondered why Tom had done that."

No question mark necessary because wondering is not a question (despite using the word "why").

1) Why did Tom take that action, George wondered?

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Wrong. You format thoughts like dialogue when near tags.

2) Why did Tom take that action? George wondered.

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As free indirect thought, correct.

3) Why did Tom take that action? George wondered.

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Correct as is.

3) Why did Tom take that action? George wondered. Correct as is.

No, not correct at all. "George wondered" simply does not work as a standalone sentence while following the question.

I agree with Caro. That way is also simplest.

TwoTrees said:

how should I correctly punctuate the following sort of sentence?

1) Why did Tom take that action, George wondered?

2) Why did Tom take that action? George wondered.

3) Why did Tom take that action? George wondered.

Click to expand...

To give a direct answer to the question:

#2 is correct. "George wondered" is a thought tag and is treated just like a dialogue tag, so the punctuation is the same as dialogue minus quotation marks. To see this, put the tag at the beginning.

George wondered, Why did Tom take that action?