Do you know what question marks are? This article will provide you with all of the information you need on question marks, including its definition, usage, example sentences, and more!
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Kevin
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December 1, 2021
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Common Questions
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What are question marks?
According to Grammar Monster, a question mark is a piece of punctuation that comes at the end of a direct question. It is used to show where a question ends and is used in interrogative sentences. Just like other punctuation marks like exclamation points/exclamation mark, parentheses, quotations/quotation marks, a closing quotation mark, apostrophes, ellipses/dots and more, this mark of punctuation has very specific use cases. This terminal punctuation mark or interrogation mark is not used with indirect questions. The combination of a question mark and an exclamation point is called an interrobang. A question mark is used for queries, disbelief, uncertainty, a series of questions with a specific answer, and more at the end of a sentence. An upside down question mark or inverted question mark is used at the beginning of question sentences in languages like Spanish, similar to how they use the tilde accent. This is an important part of the English language. To get an upside down question mark on a keyboard, press Alt+X or Alt+Ctrl+? or Alt+Ctrl+Shift+/. Question marks are used in many forms of writing, from informal writing to formal writing. This is also called an interrogation mark or interrogation point. In Latin, a point of interrogation was called punctus interrogativus.
Many different languages also contain words that mean question marks. You may notice that some of these translations of question marks look and sound similar to one another. These are called cognates, which are words and phrases in different languages that likely have the same root or language of origin, causing them to sound the same. The below list of translations of question marks is provided by Word Sense.
- Pashto: ؟
- Khakas: сурығ танығы
- Welsh: gofynnod (masc.), holnod (masc.), marc cwestiwn (masc.)
- Slovene: vprašaj (masc.)
- Scottish Gaelic: comharradh-ceiste (masc.)
- Persian: ؟
- Hindi: प्रश्नचिह्न
- Norman: point d’tchestchionn’nie (masc.) (Jersey), mèrque dé tchestchion (fem.) (Jersey)
- Urdu: ؟
- Latvian: jautājuma zīme (fem.)
- Malay: tanda soal
- Maori: tohu pātai
- Albanian: pikëpyetje (fem.)
- Polish: pytajnik (masc.), znak zapytania (masc.)
- Korean: ？, 물음표
- Norwegian: spørsmålstegn (neut.)
- Udmurt: юан пус
- Hungarian: kérdőjel
- Cornish: nos kwestyon (masc.)
- Italian: punto interrogativo (masc.), punto di domanda (masc.)
- Crimean Tatar: sual işareti
- German: Fragezeichen (neut.)
- Bengali: জিজ্ঞাসাচিহ্ন
- Khmer: ល្បះសំនួរ (lbah sɑmnuə)
- Luxembourgish: Froenzeechen (neut.)
- Spanish: signo de interrogación (masc.)
- Cyrillic: упитник (masc.)
- Southern Altai: суракту темдек (suraktu temdek)
- Catalan: interrogant, signe d’interrogació (masc.)
- French: point d’interrogation (masc.)
- Portuguese: ponto de interrogação (masc.)
- Irish: comhartha ceiste (masc.)
- Turkish: soru işareti
- Japanese: ？, 疑問符 (ぎもんふ, gimonfu)
- Greek: ;, ερωτηματικό (neut.)
- Russian: вопроси́тельный знак (masc.), знак вопро́са (masc.)
- Dutch: vraagteken (neut.)
- Esperanto: demandosigno
- Yakut: ыйытыы бэлиэтэ
- Burmese: (symbol) း။
- Yiddish: פֿרעגצייכן (masc.)
- Danish: spørgsmålstegn (neut.)
- Mandarin: ？, 問號, 问号 (wènhào)
- Roman: ùpitnīk (masc.)
- Macedonian: пра́шалник (masc.)
- Romanian: semn de întrebare
- Czech: otazník (masc.)
- Lithuanian: klaustukas
- Swedish: frågetecken (neut.)
- Finnish: kysymysmerkki
- Kalmyk: сургч темдг
- Arabic: ؟, عَلَامَة اِسْتِفْهَام, عَلَامَة سُؤَال
- Volapük: säkamalül
- Icelandic: spurningarmerki (neut.)
- Armenian: ՞, հարցական նշան
- Breton: pik-goulennata (masc.)
What are examples of question marks?
question marks can be used in many different contexts in the English language. Trying to use a word or literary technique in a sentence is one of the best ways to memorize what it is, but you can also try making flashcards or quizzes that test your knowledge. Try using this term of the day in a sentence today! Below are a couple of examples of question marks that can help get you started incorporating this tool into your everyday use. Take a look at these and question marks examples from Really Learn English, Grammar Monster, and The Punctuation Guide and see how many you can identify!
- The dog is brown, right?
- What’s not to like?
- Is she the teacher?
- You promise to call me every day?
- When will you arrive?
- See you there at 8:00 tonight?
- The question is, Does anyone support this legislation?
- You speak English, don’t you?
- The key question, Can the two sides reach a compromise? was not answered.
- Did they go to the party?
- “What are we having for dinner?” his son asked.
- Would they make it on time? she wondered.
- Are you kidding me? He doesn’t know HTML?
- You won the lottery, eh?
- Isn’t it a beautiful day?
- I have not read Mark Twain’s “Is He Living or Is He Dead?”
- You won the lottery?
- Do you want to eat pizza? chicken? hamburgers?
- Why did you stop here?
- If I were two-faced, would I be wearing this one? (President Abraham Lincoln)
- If there is no God, who pops up the next Kleenex? (Author Art Hoppe)
- What’s another word for Thesaurus? (Comedian Steven Wright)
- Do you want to eat pizza, chicken or hamburgers?
- Lisa is not here, is she?
- Are you there?
- What color is the shirt?
- How did you do that?
- Where is the gas station?
- I’ll see you at 6 o’clock, okay?
- All (?) the staff will be attending the briefing.
- Does he like apples?
- Who is your Latin teacher?
- You paid the bill, didn’t you?
- When a man tells you that he got rich through hard work, ask him, “Whose?” (Don Marquis, 1878-1937)
- Who cares?
- A lot of men (?) find ironing therapeutic.
- Have you read Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?
- Do you know her name?
- Did she pass her Washington, D.C. motorbike test?
- She said, “Have you finished?”
- What is she doing tonight?
- Wow, who knew he was so talented?
- What are your favorite books?
- Did she say, “You have finished”?
- Do you realize if it weren’t for Edison, we’d be watching TV by candlelight?
- (Canadian author Al Boliska)
- Really?
Overall, the modern question mark is used for an interrogative type of sentence, not declarative statements. This has been used since 18th century Middle Ages. The query mark is used at the eng of a sentence.
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