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I'm not exactly sure on how this should be structured. I have a question, or, question that reflects first question.

Does the media change the way we think? or Does it have no effect on us?

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  • Note that some people insist that media is plural: do the media change...?.
    – Cerberus - Reinstate Monica
    Commented May 22, 2011 at 20:42

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A sentence ending with a comma does not sound like a question to me.

Use two complete sentences if you can:

Does the media change the way we think? Or does it have no effect on us?

Or use a sentence like the following if you really want to indicate that the second question reflects the first one:

Does the media change the way we think? Or have no effect on us?

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  • Your first suggestion sounds fine. But your second one sounds rather odd: I'd never use Or have no effect on us? as an independent sentence.
    – Cerberus - Reinstate Monica
    Commented May 22, 2011 at 20:41
  • I was taught to use question mark for each question in a series, even those are not complete sentences. But true, I don't feel that comfortable with the "Or have ..." part.
    – IPX
    Commented May 22, 2011 at 20:51
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Firstly, it should be noted that your additional question is completely useless in this case, because all it does is provide an answer to the first question under the condition that this returns false.

Therefore, it's enough to say:

Does the media change the way we think?

And it already does the job perfectly and contains no obsolete parts.

But, to answer your question as it was asked, this is how your question looks properly:

Does the media change the way we think, or does it have no effect on us?

Or, probably better:

Does the media change the way we think, or doesn't it affect us at all?

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  • 2
    In your second and third suggestions, I would insert a comma before the "or" to indicate separation of independent clauses: "Does the media change the way we think, or does it have no effect on us?", or "Does the media change the way we think, or doesn't it affect us at all?"
    – MT_Head
    Commented May 22, 2011 at 19:51
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    Ain't no thang!
    – MT_Head
    Commented May 22, 2011 at 20:06

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