What is the correct way to write a question you would verbally ask in a higher tone of voice?
How is this possible?!
OR
How is this possible!?
The subtlety lies in the punctuation.
Thanks
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1There is no consensus. See english.stackexchange.com/questions/531/… english.stackexchange.com/questions/114461/… and english.stackexchange.com/questions/41991/… .– chosterCommented Sep 12, 2013 at 14:58
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@choster: This should be an answer, not a comment.– Jacobm001Commented Sep 12, 2013 at 15:06
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Alas, there IS a punctuation mark for such a thing, but the interrobang sadly goes unused due to it not appearing on a standard QWERTY keyboard. How could they leave out such a perfect punctuation mark‽– ZibbobzCommented Sep 12, 2013 at 15:10
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1@ Yasky: I've closevoted as Off Topic, because any relevant reference will tell you that grammatically you're required to use a question mark after a question. Any in any real-world written context it should be fairly obvious whether there's any element of surprise/exclamation in any given "question". If you're writing the words yourself, consider devices such as "How is it possible?" exclaimed {John}– FumbleFingersCommented Sep 12, 2013 at 15:25
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@Zibbobz The interrobang goes happily unused due to it being a horrible bastardisation that at best falls into the "it was funnier the first time" category.– Jon HannaCommented Sep 12, 2013 at 17:33
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