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Punctuation Tip: The Question Mark?

By VJ
Are these good:

How awesome!?
Oh my goodness!?
Did he say, “did you find him”?

We will see how to use the question mark correctly in this post.

Question mark basically, as you well know, is used to express a question.

Examples:
Who is the current chairman of Microsoft?
What does the governor general of the UN do?

In case of direct questions only should you use the question mark. In the following cases, question mark should not be used.

Examples:
Wrong: My friend asked me where I was going?
Right: Neena asked him where he found the stone.

Using Question Mark With Quotation Marks

Question mark, as opposed to the period or comma, may be placed inside or outside the quotation marks. If the question is part of the quoted element, the question mark should be inside the quotes. Otherwise, it should be outside.

Examples:
He asked me, “Why did you go there at all?”
Did John say, “I love you”?

Another punctuation mark that behaves just like this is the exclamation mark.

Question Marks on Titles

I suggest you use question marks with all article/book titles that are in the interrogative form.

Examples:
How to Create a Blog Post?
How to Write a Good Novel?
Did Johny Love Her? by Jim Crarrey is my favorite novel.

Also, make sure to italicize the title of the book. If the question mark is part of the title, it will also be italicized. Otherwise, it will not.

Example:
Do you like Jim Crarrey’s novel, I am Not Jim Carrey?

Overuse of Question Marks

Don’t use question marks to express excessive and confusing emotions through text. You should always follow the rules. So, don’t write such sentences as you found at the beginning.

Examples:
Wrong: Did Tom Cruise marry again?!
Wrong: Amitabh Bachchan is still the reigning star!?!

Books on Punctuation From Amazon:

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