Grammar Tips. Question marks.

Use a question mark at the end of the sentence when the sentence begins as a statement but contains a question within it.

INCORRECT: It is true, isn’t it? That she gave you the money.

CORRECT: It is true, isn’t it, that she gave you the money?

INCORRECT: You were there, right? When I handed her the money.

CORRECT: You were there, right, when I handed her the money?

Place the question mark outside the final quotation if the entire sentence is a question. Note that what is quoted is not a question.

INCORRECT: Did he say, “Friends, Romans, countrymen?”

CORRECT:  Did he say, “Friends, Romans, countrymen”?

INCORRECT: What is your definition of the word “success?”

CORRECT: What is your definition of the word “success”?

Place the question mark inside the final quotation if a quoted question appears within a question.

INCORRECT: Who asked, “Where is he now”?

CORRECT: Who asked, “Where is he now?”

Use a question mark within the final dash when a sentence contains a dashed expression that is a question.

INCORRECT: She is my sister who — you weren’t expecting that, were you — lives in Europe.

CORRECT: She is my sister who — you weren’t expecting that, were you? — lives in Europe.