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Grammatically Correct: The writer's essential guide to punctuation ...

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Question Mark (?)<br />

<strong>The</strong> question mark is a terminal <strong>punctuation</strong> mark that turns a<br />

sentence in<strong>to</strong> a query. It may also be used <strong>to</strong> indicate uncertainty,<br />

tentativeness or incredulity. <strong>The</strong>re are cases where it is necessary,<br />

cases where it is optional and cases where it is inappropriate.<br />

It has the following functions:<br />

• Indicating queries<br />

• Optionally indicating rhe<strong>to</strong>rical questions<br />

• Optionally indicating requests<br />

• Indicating uncertainty<br />

INDICATING QUERIES<br />

USE THE QUESTION MARK WHEN POSING A DIRECT QUERY<br />

Were there any messages for me?<br />

How does this electric cat brush work?<br />

just how many crates of mangoes did you eat last night, anyway?<br />

USE IT TO TURN A STATEMENT INTO A QUERY<br />

You promise not <strong>to</strong> tell anyone?<br />

You don't really mean that?<br />

She really said she would?<br />

Note that the former way of posing a question is more likely when<br />

the speaker is seeking information, and the latter when the speaker<br />

is assuming or hoping for a particular answer.<br />

In dialogue, both forms of questions are common.<br />

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