Using the Question Mark

There is a grain of curiosity
At the base of some new thing, that unrolls
Its question mark like a new wave on the shore.

                                        John Ashberyo

Question marks do just that: they mark curiosity. They indicate that what is being said is a question that wants an answer.

1. Use a question mark when you are asking a direct question.

Ex. A: Was there no possible means of gaining access to the locked room?

Ex. B: That wasn't a new strain of flu, was it?

Ex. C: You what?

2. Put a question mark inside quotation marks when the quoted material is a question. Put the question mark outside the quoted material when a direct quotation is used within a question.

Ex. A: William asked Eileen, "Will you always provide me with home-cooked meals?"

Ex. B: Did Eileen throw a tantrum at the words "home-cooked meals"?

3. Do not use a question mark after an indirect question. Such sentences are statements, not questions.

Ex. A: Eileen questioned whether she could marry William or not.

Ex. B: It is a good question whether the United States can leave Iraq within the next twelve years.

Return to Grammar and Punctuation or OWL.

oAshbery, John. "Blue Sonata." Houseboat Days. New York: Farrar Staus Girous, 1999.