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USEAQUESTIONMARK [? ]ATTHEENDOFADIRECTQUESTION. It is considered badform to use a question mark in combination with other marks, although that is often done in

informal prose in an attempt to convey complex tones: He told you what!? That combination (or

similar combination) of punctuation marks is sometimes called an interrobang, but the

interrobang currently has no role in academic prose.*

A tag question is a device used to turn a statement into a question. It nearly always consists

of a pronoun, a helping verb, and sometimes the word not. Although it begins as a statement, the

tag question prevails when it comes to the end-mark: use a question mark. Notice that when the

statement is positive, the tag question is expressed in the negative; when the statement is

negative, the tag question is positive. (There are a few exceptions to this, frequently expressing

an element of surprise or sarcasm: "So you've made your first million, have you?" "Oh, that's

your plan, is it?") The following are more typical tag questions:

He should quit smoking, shouldn't he?

He shouldn't have quit his diet, should he?

They're not doing very well, are they?

He finished on time, didn't he?

She does a beautiful job, doesn't she?

Harold may come along, mightn't he?

There were too many people on the dock, weren't there?(Be careful of this last one; it's not "weren't they?")

Be careful notto put a question mark at the end of an indirect question.

The instructor asked the students what they were doing.

I asked my sister if she had a date.

I wonder if Cheney will run for vice president again.

I wonder whether Cheney will run again.

Be careful to distinguish between an indirect question (above), and a question that is

embedded within a statement which we do want to end with a question mark.

We can get to Boston quicker, can't we, if we take the interstate?

His question was, can we end this statement with a question mark?

She ended her remarks with a resounding why not?

http://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/marks/question.htm#interrobanghttp://grammar.ccc.commnet.edu/grammar/marks/question.htm#interrobang

7/29/2019 English Grammar - Question Mark

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I wonder: will Cheney run for office again?

Put a question mark at the end of a sentence that is, in fact, a direct question. (Sometimes

writers will simply forget.) Rhetorical questions (asked when an answer is not really expected),

by the way, are questions and deserve to end with a question mark:

How else should we end them, after all?

What if I said to you, "You've got a real problem here"? (Notice that the question

mark here comes afterthe quotation mark and there is no period at the end of the

statement.)

Sometimes a question will actually end with a series of brief questions. When that

happens, especially when the brief questions are more or less follow-up questions to the main

question, each of the little questions can begin with a lowercase letter and end with a question

mark.

Who is responsible for executing the plan? the coach? the coaching staff? the

players?

If a question mark is part of an italicized or underlined title, make sure that the question

mark is also italicized:

My favorite book is Where Did He Go?

(Do not add a period after such a sentence that ends with the title's question mark. The

question mark will also suffice to end the sentence.) If the question mark is not part of a

sentence-ending title, don't italicize the question mark:

Did he sing the French national anthem, la Marseillaise?

When a question ends with an abbreviation, end the abbreviation with a period and then add

the question mark.

Didn't he use to live in Washington, D.C.?

When a question constitutes a polite request, it is usually notfollowed by a question mark.

This becomes more true as the request becomes longer and more complex:

Would everyone in the room who hasn't received an ID card please move to the

front of the line.