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Is this the correct use of the question mark? Should it be at the end outside of the closing bracket? See example below

How do we deliver it? (to the learner)

Edwin Ashworth
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Elaine
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1 Answers1

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The question mark marks the end of the question. If a trailing parenthetical is part of the question, the mark goes after the closing parenthesis:

How do we deliver it (to the learner)?

If the trailing parenthetical is not part of the question, the parenthetical follows the question mark:

How do we deliver it? (A very good question, to be sure.)

deadrat
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    What level of obviousness makes a reference unnecessary? This site has whipped me into giving a reference as a conditioned reflex in an Answer...but I've noticed several instances lately where high-rep users don't. I would appreciate clarification -- not trying to be snarky, genuinely confused. – ab2 Aug 18 '15 at 20:33
  • @ab2 You have my prior permission to be genuinely snarky and genuinely confused at the same time. Nobody likes snark more than I do. Except perhaps my wife and some of her friends. Oh yes, and Captain Johnson. Never mind. You might want to address this question to actual high-rep users, perhaps in meta. As for me, obviousness is in the eye of the answerer, and I often fail to cite to the merely duplicative or the mostly suspect. But as sure as the sun rises in the east, someone will be sure to demand a source for that claim. Probably not much help. Sorry about that. – deadrat Aug 19 '15 at 07:30
  • If you insist ... a source, pretty please? / You've added a capital to the subsequent fragment, which validates the structure in all but the most formal writing. // I'm trying to think of a grey area ('Is it or isn't it really part of the question?'). ... An afterthought, an appositive precising the question, perhaps. << How do we deliver it to the learner (to the absolute beginner) >> (Admittedly, I'd probably not use brackets here! 'How do we deliver it to the learner? [...] To the absolute beginner?) But there must be tricky examples.) – Edwin Ashworth Feb 07 '20 at 11:43