How to Use Question Marks
Question marks are used at the end of questions. When there is a question mark, there should not also be a period since the question mark is the end punctuation.
Sometimes, a sentence that is a question has some quoted words. The question mark still goes at the end of the sentence:
- Example: Does anyone really know whether "the earth will be impacted by a meteor in the near future"?
If there is a quoted question in a sentence, then the question mark goes inside the quotation marks:
- Example: He asked, “Who is going?”
Sometimes, there is a question about whether a sentence contains a direct question.
- Example: He asked about who was going.
With this phrasing, there is no direct question. It is an indirect question. Question marks should not be used.
Question marks can also be used for rhetorical questions – questions used for persuasion.
- Example: The earth has been gradually warming since the end of the last Ice Age. Are humans really speeding up this warming trend or is it just part of the natural process?
