Skip to main content

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:

Comments

Post a Comment

Comments are moderated very strictly

Popular posts from this blog

Power of Short Sentences

By VJ
Post dedicated to Thomas Hardy (see History Today below). There are monster sentences like the one you encounter as the first paragraph of Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens . One of my friends, whom I am getting equipped for his IELTS ( what is this? ), told me that the examination recommends long sentences. In writing classes also, I guess it’s longer sentences most tutors promote. But indubitably shorter sentences are more powerful . We will see why. Take a long sentence for instance: Tom Cruise, one of the finest actors in the whole world, is perhaps the most powerful celebrity to exist ever according to Time Magazine, but many people still dispute this fact and point out that there are more powerful and popular actors than Cruise, though they were unsuccessful in providing the total number of fans, who liked the films of those actors. This is a long sentence and it is very confusing . Though it has a logical construction and conveys a meaning, it falters in many occasions and seems ...
1 comment
Read more

Creative Writing: Crafting Characters With Emotional Appeal in Mind

By VJ
When you read the greatest fiction works ever, have you ever asked what was so compelling about them that you not only kept reading it, but you ended up reading all other major works of the writer? It may well be because the writer touched your emotional quotient quite a bit. Every reader has a unique taste . Some like to read suspense thrillers , some tender love stories, and some others dark horror and bloodshed stories . That’s why there are all sorts of genres out there. When a writer gives you what exactly you want, you will keep reading. Here we come to the emotional appeal. Character Imperfection Perfect characters may not always be the upshot of a writer’s deliberation. It may well be due to ignorance . Usually the upcoming writers take it for granted that if they create perfect characters, they will be able to garner a bigger audience . It is not true. You have to ask yourself what a character would do in a particular situation. Perfect characters—perfect gunmen, perfect...
1 comment
Read more

En Dash, Em Dash, and Hyphen

By VJ
We have three types of dashes in use: The hyphen, En Dash, and the Em Dash. In this post, we will see how to use them all correctly. Hyphen (-) The hyphen is the minus key in Windows-based keyboards. This is a widely used punctuation mark. Hyphen should not be mistaken for a dash . Dash is different and has different function than a hyphen. A hyphen is used to separate the words in a compound adjective, verb, or adverb. For instance: The T-rex has a movement-based vision. My blog is blogger-powered. John’s idea was pooh-poohed. The hyphen can be used generally for all kinds of wordbreaks . En Dash (–) En Dash gets its name from its length. It is one ‘N’ long (En is a typographical unit that is almost as wide as 'N'). En Dash is used to express a range of values or a distance: People of age 55–80 are more prone to hypertension. Delhi–Sidney flight was late by three hours. In MS Word, you can put an En Dash either from the menu, clicking Insert->Symbol or by the key-combinatio...
11 comments
Read more