Table of Contents
Questions ask for information or they seek permission.
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What does a question do?
Examples:
- What will we do tomorrow?
- Where does he live?
- How many cats really have nine lives?
- Can we go to the ice cream store?
- May I help you climb the ladder?
- What’s your name?
- My name’s Samantha. What’s yours?
- May I have a raise in my allowance?
- Are you willing to work for it?
Examples:
- Amos came early? He is always late.
- Dionisia said that? That doesn’t sound like her.
- A gallon of water weighs eight pounds? That much?
Examples:
- Terri’s great-grandparents were married in 1791 (1792?) in Alcester (?), England.
- That huge storm dropped 8.3 [?] inches of rain in less than 24 hours.
- The accident occurred at 3:20 a.m. (?), leaving the young couple stranded.
Punctuation with quotation marks
Question marks follow their questions.
Examples:
- After much hesitation, she asked, “When can I go?”
- When Sara came home after midnight, her mother always wanted to know, “Where have you been?”
Examples:
- Do you remember who sang, “Ring of Fire”?
- I’m not sure, but didn’t he also sing, “Daddy Sang Bass”?
Examples:
- I’m thinking. Who sang, “What’s Your Mama’s Name?”
- And isn’t he the same one who sang, “Don’t the Girls All Get Prettier?”
(And for you young people, it was Johnny Cash, the Man in Black.)
Questions come in different forms.
Usually people speak in terms of WWWWWH as “Who, What, When, Where, Why, How,” but “How many” and “Which” also ask questions.
WWWWWHHmW words:
- Who
- What
- When
- Where
- Why
- How
- How many
- Which
These words do not always ask for information, as they also combine clauses, not requiring a “?.”
These words usually appear at the beginning, followed by the helping verb, the subject, the main verb, the rest, and the “?.”
Examples of WWWWWHHmW words asking for information:
- Who is that standing behind the oak tree?
- When did he show up?
- How do I know?
- Which oak tree is he behind?
When the one word is simply “who,” “what,” “when,” etc., it is not considered a question.
- If the whole sentence is a statement, it ends in a period.
- If the whole sentence is a question, it ends in a question mark.
- If the whole sentence is an exclamation, it ends in an exclamation mark.l
Examples:
- I didn’t understand either who or why.
- (“who” or “why” are not asking the question.)
- Why won’t he tell me when?
- (“when” is not asking. “Why” is.)
- How would I know? He never did explain how to me!
- (“how” in the first sentence asks, but “how” in the second is not asking.)
Many are asked expecting a simple “Yes” or “No” for an answer. More information may follow, depending what is asked and how the other answers.
Helping verbs include “have/had” (plus past participle), “can/could,” “will/would,” “shall/should,” (plus the normal form of the verb) and “be” (plus present participle).
They use this order:
- “do” + the subject + the verb + whatever follows
- helping verb + the subject + the verb + whatever follows
Asking in the negative, particularly in dialogue, often uses the contraction “n’t” on the end of the helping verb.
- “don’t” + the subject + the verb + whatever follows
- helping verb + “n’t” + the subject + the verb + whatever follows
- haven’t/hasn’t/hadn’t
- won’t (from “will”)
- wouldn’t
- can’t/couldn’t
- shouldn’t
- shan’t (from “shall,” not common)
- isn’t/aren’t/wasn’t/weren’t
Exception: The subject “I” with the verb “be” is almost always followed by “am not.” Even the spell checker does not like “amn’t.” “Ain’t” is acceptable in dialogue as dialect.
If not using the contraction, “not” follows the subject before the main verb. (It may sound awkward and/or formal.)
- “do” + the subject + “not” + the verb + whatever follows
- helping verb + the subject + “not” + the verb + whatever follows
“Not” after the subject may be used to imply the negative rather than affirming the positive, depending on the emphasis (and context).
- (Statement) A bear catches fish by jumping into the water.
- (Question) Does a bear catch fish by jumping into the water?
- (In the present tense third person singular [he/she/it], the helping verb takes the third person singular form (“does”). The primary verb retains its normal form.)
- (Negative question) Doesn’t a bear catch fish by jumping into the water?
- (Does a bear not catch fish by jumping into the water?)
- (Imply the negative: No, a bear doesn’t.)
- (Affirm the positive: Yes, a bear does.)
- (Does a bear not catch fish by jumping into the water?)
- (Question) Does a bear catch fish by jumping into the water?
- (Statement) We have watched the bears catching salmon in the river.
- (Question) Have we watched the bears catching salmon in the river?
- (Negative question) Haven’t we watched the bears catching salmon in the river?
- (Have we not watched the bears catching salmon in the river?)
- (Imply the negative: No, we don’t.)
- (Affirm the positive: Yes, we do.)
- (Have we not watched the bears catching salmon in the river?)
In earlier times, “can” implied ability to do something. “May” was used for permission. Earlier times seem to have passed, so that both words may request permission.
“Can” still understands capability as well.
Examples:
- Momma, can we go to the ice cream store?
- May I help you get down out of the tree first?
- Can you find the ladder?
Tag questions usually are asked to verify the accuracy of what the speaker believes to be true.
They begin as sentences. The “tag” which follows uses the opposite form of the auxiliary verb plus the subject. If the sentence is positive, the tag will be negative. If the sentence is negative, the tag is positive.
Examples:
- Today is Thursday, isn’t it?
- (Sentence is a positive statement, tag is negative)
- (“Yes” = Today is Thursday.)
- (“No” = Today is not Thursday.)
- We don’t like broccoli, do we?
- (Sentence is a negative statement, tag is positive)
- (“Yes” would be better followed by “we do.”
- (“No” would be better followed by “we don’t.”)
If inside a statement, the statement (plus question) ends with a period. It is often used as a polite way of asking for something.
Many embedded questions begin with a WWWWWHHmW (“Who,” “What,” “When,” “Where,” “Why,” “How,” “How many,” “Which”). Others start with “if” or “whether (or not).”
Word order remains the same as it would be in a normal sentence.
Sometimes an infinitive follows the question word.
They may begin with a phrase similar to these (with or without contractions):
- I wonder …
- He might ask ..
- They could find out …
- She’d like to know …
- We’re not sure …
Examples:
- Sir, could you tell me which train goes to Boston?
- Do they know how to pack their luggage?
- Can she remember what day to come for the party?
- Could you tell me …
- Do they know…
- Can she remember …
Examples:
- I wonder who wrote Little Women.
- He might ask when the next train arrives.
- They could find out if there is a written schedule somewhere.
Examples:
- When did he say the meeting started? At 9? At 10? At 11?
- What flowers are they bringing? Roses? Tulips? Daisies? Mums?
If said in exasperation, it could end in an exclamation mark.
Examples:
- Would you please eat your peas.
- Could you get me an ice cream bar.
- How many times have I told you!
The purpose of the interrobang is to combine the amazement of an exclamation mark and the doubt of a question mark.
‽
The interrobang (“interabang”, with only one “r”) is variously written
- as a question mark superimposed over an exclamation mark ,
- as a question mark followed by an exclamation mark (?!), or
- the other way around (!?).
It was born in the 1960’s, but because most keyboards do not allow the typeover to combine the two marks, it did not gain wide usage.
The current AP Stylebook does not mention the interrobang.
The 17th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style mentions the interrobang only with the comment that they are making a list and considering it for the next edition. Its absence in the CMOS indicates that it is not appropriate (yet) for formal writing.
Fiction writers may or may not find the use of the interrobang acceptable, depending upon their editors or publishers.
Examples:
- “Can’t you see the fire?! It’s coming right at us!”
- “Will we get out in time?! Can’t you get the car started?!”
- “Did you ever see a cat wearing sunglasses!?”
Which comes first, the exclamation mark or the question mark depends upon the intent of the exclamation.
Credit: Photo by Camylla Battani on Unsplash