Punctuation for a thought and a word placement question

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MsK

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How would I punctuate the bolded part? It's a question, but she's only thinking it.

****

“That will be $31.04.”
Maddie dug through her purse, hoping to find the four pennies. Since when did feeding sandwiches to three kids end up costing over thirty dollars, she mused as she gave up on the pennies and handed over two twenty dollar bills to the cashier.

****

Next question:
'handed over two twenty dollar bills bills to the cashier' as it reads above?
Or, 'handed two twenty dollar bills over to the cashier' as it reads below?

****

“That will be $31.04.”
Maddie dug through her purse, hoping to find the four pennies. Since when did feeding sandwiches to three kids end up costing over thirty dollars, she mused as she gave up on the pennies and handed two twenty dollar bills over to the cashier.
 

FennelGiraffe

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How would I punctuate the bolded part? It's a question, but she's only thinking it.

****

“That will be $31.04.”
Maddie dug through her purse, hoping to find the four pennies. Since when did feeding sandwiches to three kids end up costing over thirty dollars, she mused as she gave up on the pennies and handed over two twenty dollar bills to the cashier.

http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=104923
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=102615
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=47974
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29797
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=107580
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=104923

Next question:
'handed over two twenty dollar bills bills to the cashier' as it reads above?
Or, 'handed two twenty dollar bills over to the cashier' as it reads below?

The word "over" is unnecessary. Don't move it; delete it.

Maddie dug through her purse, hoping to find the four pennies. Since when did feeding sandwiches to three kids end up costing over thirty dollars? she mused as She gave up on the pennies and handed over two twenty dollar bills to the cashier.​
 

IceCreamEmpress

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“That will be $31.04.”

Maddie dug through her purse, hoping to find the four cents. Since when did feeding sandwiches to three kids end up costing over thirty dollars? She gave up on the pennies and handed two twenty dollar bills to the cashier.


You don't need the "she mused" stuff because you're already in her viewpoint with "hoping to find the four pennies" (though I think that "cents" would be better there, to avoid repeating with the fourth sentence).
 

Nagoyaka Aikouka

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If you like the idea of her "musing," you could keep the word in there by working the sentences in the following way.

Maddie dug through her purse, hoping to find the four cents. Since when did feeding sandwiches to three kids end up costing over thirty dollars? She gave up on the pennies and handed two twenty dollar bills to the cashier, continuing her musing as he got her change.

You don't need to punctuate thoughts like you would actual dialogue, especially when you're writing from the individual's point of view. It doesn't matter if it's first person or third person, you are obviously writing from Maddie's perspective. Because of that, things like "The sky was really blue that day" or "Since when did feeding three kids sandwiches get so expensive?" are both her thoughts and are just additions to her perspective of the world around her.

Hope that helps!
 

rugcat

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Fennal is, I think, entirely correct.

However, there is a slight difference between "handed" and "handed over," as in "Hand over that money!"

So if you want to keep hand over, keep those two words together -- although I think a simple handed is more correct and reads better in your example.
 
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