Ending a statement with a question mark

[Never]

I’ve seen many people on Literotica end questions without having a question mark. It’s a common grammatical error and easy enough to do when you’re typing quickly.

However, ending a statement with a question mark is rarely something a person does on accident. As someone who does this, often I’ve always wondered what unconscious mechanism is at work.

Am I trying to be ‘gentle’ with my statements?
Am I pretending it is a question to slide it past someone else’s radar?
In English, a question is pronounced with a slight raise in tone. Perhaps I am ‘hearing’ myself raise my tone in a slight mental shrug?

See, I just did it. The above sentence isn’t a question at all. However, a question is implied. Perhaps I’m just trying to press an interesting point to the reader. A question mark forces the reader to pause and evaluate the sentence. It says ‘Stop here and think about this statement’.

I find that women mostly use this device. Then again, the majority of people on this forum are female.

Instances I’ve seen lately:
Never:
“Maybe she just refuses to read about that happening to an eight year old?”

I wrote the above not too long ago. In my mind, there’s no question as to the truthfulness of this statement. However, I this isn’t an issue in which I feel comfortable speaking for Laurel.

lavender:
"By this pure and simple definition, which essentially reduced sexuality to an act, a person can engage in all sorts of acts with people of the same sex and the opposite sex, but if they want to do those of the opposite sex, they are heterosexual?"

Here lavender is simply restating my statement yet she adds a question mark to the end. Why? As she tells me that I’ve ‘reduced’ sexuality by my definition it’s obvious she disagrees with my definition. She might be telling me the reason why she disagrees or she might be pointing out an outcome of my argument she thinks I’ll disagree with.


Ending a statement with a question is ambiguous. It’s also slightly submissive behavior, which is one of the reasons I think I see it more in women’s writing then men’s. It’s sort of a round about way of making a point without actually having to make one.

 

[Guest]

 

[lobito]

I don't get it?

What's so strange about bad punctuation!

 

[Killswitch]

What?

 

[weed]

Do I do it. I think I do.

Especially when I answer my own question.

Questions are a wonderful way to direct a conversation without being confrontational. It seems less adversarial than out and out opinionated statements.

Sometimes I just don't know something and a question is called for. Go figure.

 

[sexy-girl]

i've noticed i've done this also


but i think part of the reason why i have done it is when i write a statement and somehow it reads as if it doesn't fit the tone im trying to convey so i put a ? at the end so it suits my tone better

perhaps it would be better to rewrite the sentence so it better suited how i wanted it to sound rather then to add a question mark

but i do think literotica is written discussion so people try to convey meaning through tone almost like a real discussion that's why you get bad grammar or people typing in caps and such i think the question mark is just another tool of trying to show tone

 

[RawHumor]

Hey, SG, Never said we can have that 3-some. Now all we need is for you to agree.

 

[ksmybuttons]

Interobang's would have helped a lot.

 

[sexy-girl]

Hey, SG, Never said we can have that 3-some. Now all we need is for you to agree.

sure but you have to wear protection at all times ... a double strength bin bag pulled over the head and another one pulled over the legs tied off at the stomach with steel wire ... you can have a air hole though

no offense but its for your protection as much as ours

 

[RawHumor]

Like I told her, impregnation will soon not be an issue and I'm disease-free.

 

[Lancecastor]

I think the use of a question mark in an online statement is intended to replicate conversational inflection.

Vinton Cerf has written on this topic, though not in any real depth.

If you look at the Internet Society website you'll find some on-topic stuff, Never.

Lance

 

[CelestialBody]

Perhaps it's a rhetorical question?

 

[sexy-girl]

Like I told her, impregnation will soon not be an issue and I'm disease-free.

you still have that disease about 50% of the population have called icky maleness

 

[RawHumor]

you still have that disease about 50% of the population have called icky maleness

Yeah, but I'm all sensitive and stuff, so that's pretty girly, right?

Besides, think of how jealous it would make Hanns. LOL

 

[Never]

Come on sexy-girl, it will be fun. A good time will be had by all.

(see RH? I'm all about hooking you up)

 

[RawHumor]

Just having you in my corner makes me feel like I've won already, Never.

 

[Never]

Another example.

JeanetteLv2:
”The stats are something like 75% of women murdered are killed by someone they know. And 33% are killed by their significant other. So between this stuff and the stats, odds are good he did it no?”

While the ‘no’ at the end makes it a question grammatically, it really is a statement. Again, the subject is female.

This time however, the subject seems to be saying. "This is what I think of it. What do you think?"

 

[JeanetteLv2]

Not sure how I should feel about being made an example... lol.

This time however, the subject seems to be saying. "This is what I think of it. What do you think?"

Yeah that's what I meant. So I waffle a bit. Shot me.

 

[Never]

Thank you for clarifying.

As for the shot, I could always use a blood sample for my experiments.

 

[JeanetteLv2]

Thank you for clarifying.

As for the shot, I could always use a blood sample for my experiments.

Sure, Never, why not. I'm use to being the subject of experiments.

 

[modest mouse]

However, ending a statement with a question mark is rarely something a person does on accident. As someone who does this, often I?ve always wondered what unconscious mechanism is at work.

Assuming it is unconcious is blatanly false.

Ending a statement with a question is ambiguous. It?s also slightly submissive behavior, which is one of the reasons I think I see it more in women?s writing then men?s. It?s sort of a round about way of making a point without actually having to make one.

Again, blatantly incorrect.

It is rarely ambiguous. yes it is capable of more than one meaning but anyone with an eye/ear for words can derive intent.

Submissive?

(See that question mark above? Well its not submissive. I'm telling you very clearly that I think you calling it submissive is again blatanly wrong.)

Perhaps Never would be better served with a Question mark emoticon?

 

[tortoise]

In the instances to which you refer, Never, I generally use an ellipsis followed by a question mark. I have no idea why I do this...?

 

[Never]

Modest mouse:
”Assuming it is unconcious is blatanly false.”

I’m not assuming anything, it is unconscious when I do it and the majority of people don't pay at much attention to their sentences as I.

” It is rarely ambiguous. yes it is capable of more than one meaning but anyone with an eye/ear for words can derive intent.”

Anyone with an eye and ear for content can derive several intents. That is what makes it ambiguous.

“Submissive?

(See that question mark above? Well its not submissive. I'm telling you very clearly that I think you calling it submissive is again blatanly wrong.)”

The word ‘submissive’ is not a statement.

”Perhaps Never would be better served with a Question mark emoticon?”

That would indicate confusion and I am rarely confused. However, you have given a good example of how to convey sarcasm through mimicry.

 

[RawHumor]

I liked it better when this thread was about our 3-some.

 

[Hamletmaschine]

I agree with lance. The question mark in English is a visual sign used in written communication to substitute for an acoustic sign in oral communication (the rising inflection that signals the interrogatory nature of the statement).

In conversation, more women than men end declarative statements with the acoustic sign of an interrogatory one. Why? Depends who you ask, but basically it's seen as either weak/submissive or, more generously, as more open and less dogmatic than the more typical masculinist style of inflection, where even questions are inflected as declarative statements.