The rhetorical question mark or percontation point was invented by Henry Denham in the 1580s and was used at the end of a rhetorical question; however, its use died out in the 17th century. It was the reverse of an ordinary question mark, so that instead of the main opening pointing back into the sentence, it opened away from it. This character can be represented using the reversed question mark (βΈ®) found in Unicode as U+2E2E. The percontation point is analogous to the Irony mark, but these are very rarely seen.
Rhetorical questions in some (informal) situations can use a bracketed question mark, e.g. "Oh, really(?)", for example in 888 subtitles.
The question mark can also be used as a meta-sign to signal uncertainty regarding what precedes. It is usually put between brackets (?). The uncertainty may concern either a superficial (such as unsure spelling) or a deeper truth (real meaning) level.
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Famous quotes containing the words rhetorical question, rhetorical, question and/or mark:
“Art has always been this—pure interrogation, rhetorical question less the rhetoric—whatever else it may have been obliged by social reality to appear.”
—Samuel Beckett (1906–1989)
“Art has always been this—pure interrogation, rhetorical question less the rhetoric—whatever else it may have been obliged by social reality to appear.”
—Samuel Beckett (1906–1989)
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And at the third question thou must not shrink,
But tell me here truly what I do think.””
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