What are question marks?

Question marks are used the mark the end of a sentence to show that it is a question. It replaces a full stop, therefore, the next word must begin with a capital letter.

A direct question expects an answer to be provided.

E.g What are you doing this evening?

Where shall we go on holiday? How did you manage that?

When can we go shopping?

Be careful: Sentences that start with ‘who, what, where, when and why’ aren’t always questions. They can be used as subordinating conjunctions at the start of sentences.

Rhetorical questions are questions that do not require an answer. They can be used in writing to have a particular effect on the reader or make the reader think about something, rather than to receive an

answer.

Question tags

Question tags are short questions at the end of a statement.

E.g You have done your homework, haven’t you?

I can go swimming tonight, can’t I? This is an awful mess, isn’t it?

Question tags are mainly used in speech to encourage confirmation or agreement.