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How do the following options differ in what they imply?

Option 1
The real question is: what do you want to achieve?

Option 2
The real question is, "What do you want to achieve?"

Is there an existing convention for this pattern? If so, what is it? My options are specifically quotes and colons.

SwankyLegg
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    You could also use a comma without speech marks, and that would be my preferred method. – Charon Feb 04 '16 at 21:06
  • @Charon in that case, "what" is no longer capitalized, correct? – SwankyLegg Feb 04 '16 at 21:17
  • Yes, that's correct. If you could provide some more context, it would be easier to answer and/or provide more colour. – Charon Feb 04 '16 at 21:23
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    I think in colloquial spoken contexts The real question is what you want to achieve is probably more likely than either of OP'd "wordy, literary" written versions. – FumbleFingers Feb 04 '16 at 21:51

1 Answers1

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As per Patricia T. O'Conner on page 140 of first edition of "Woe is I":

"Use [a colon] only if you want your sentence to brake completely..." "...Use a colon instead of a comma, if you wish, to introduce a quotation. I said to him: 'Harry, please pick up a bottle of wine on your way over...' Many people prefer to introduce a longer quotation with a colon instead of a comma."

The text proceeds to explain other irrelevant scenarios dealing with colons, after which a note reads, "If what comes after the colon is a complete sentence, you may start it with a capital letter. My advice was this: Bring only one next time."

So in your case, either way works, depending on what you want to achieve, I guess.

Kai Maxfield
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    Thanks. Please tell me that it doesn't say "brake," though... – SwankyLegg Feb 05 '16 at 03:52
  • You know, that's exactly what I thought when I read it the first time. It indeed does, but the copy I have on hand is the first edition. Maybe I should get the third edition to see if she revised that portion. http://www.amazon.com/Woe-Grammarphobes-Better-English-Edition/dp/157322331X – Kai Maxfield Feb 05 '16 at 04:03
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    @SwankyLegg "brake" as a synonym for "halt" would just about make sense but would be an odd choice. – Chris H Feb 05 '16 at 06:51