Punctuation – How Do I Use Question Marks and Exclamation Points?

By Stuart Ackerman

     All sentences end in some form of punctuation.  A question mark always follows a direct question.  An exclamation point always conveys strong emotions.

Question Marks

Question marks are always part of a direct question.  There are three types of questions.

1.    Indirect Questions:  There are no question marks in indirect questions.  There are no quotations and there is no one actually asking a question.

For example:  Mike asked who wanted to play soccer.

2.    Direct Questions:  Direct questions involve somebody speaking.  Quotation marks are used in direct quotations.

For example:  “Who wants to play soccer?” Mike asked.

3.    Series Questions:  With series questions, each question can be followed by a question mark.

 For example: Do you want to play soccer?  Would you rather play baseball?   Would you rather watch us play?

Exclamation Points

An exclamation, which can be a word, phrase, or clause, is an expression of strong emotions or commands.

For example:

That was the best movie I ever saw!

“Watch out!” David shouted as the piano fell from the building.

In the second sentence, the exclamation point is inside the quotation marks because David yelled ‘watch out’.

Exclamation points shouldn’t be used too much in writing because they can lose their sense of strong emotion if there are too many of them.

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