Inverted question mark and exclamation point in Spanish
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The inverted question mark and inverted exclamation point in Spanish are used to begin interrogative and exclamatory sentences, respectively.
[edit] Usage
The inverted question mark (¿) is a punctuation mark indicating a question and is placed before the first letter of an interrogative sentence or clause. It is an inverted form of the standard symbol recognized by speakers of other languages using the Latin alphabet: ?. In most languages, a single question mark is used and only at the end of an interrogative sentence: How old are you?. This was also once true for Spanish. The inverted question mark was not adopted until long after the decision of the Real Academia in the second edition of La Ortografía de la Real Academia (1754) to recommend it as the symbol indicating the beginning of a question in written Spanish —¿Cuántos años tienes? ("How old are you?"). The Real Academia also ordered the same system for statements of exclamation using the symbols '¡' and '!'. In mixed declarative/interrogative sentences, only the clause that asks a question is isolated with the inverted question mark. A good example would be, "Vamos a la playa; ¿quieres ir con nosotros?" (We're going to the beach; would you like to come with us?)
Adoption of these new rules was slow, and there are even books from the nineteenth century that do not use either of the opening symbols, '¡' or '¿'. It did finally become standard usage, most likely due to its practicality given that Spanish syntax in many cases does not help the reader determine at what moment a sentence in progress is a question. For example, without any punctuation to indicate if they are questions or not, the sentences ¿Hablas bien el español? ("Do you speak Spanish well?") and Hablas bien el español. ("You speak Spanish well.") are identical in written Spanish. With longer sentences, using the punctuation indicates that a question has started.
An alternative usage, which did not become widely adopted, was to use the inverted question mark only when the question was long, or when there was sufficient risk of ambiguity, but not for short sentences or those that were clearly questions such as Quién vive? ("Who's alive?"). The influence of English could be reinstating this old criterion. Furthermore, it is common that in Internet chat rooms or instant messaging people now only use the single, ending symbol ('?') to form a question since it saves time typing. Given that these are informal settings, this may seem to be of little importance; however, some see this as a problem, fearing (and claiming) that many young people are now inappropriately extending this practice to homework and essays, thereby committing a very serious orthographical error.
[edit] ¡ … ?
Although it has now fallen into disuse, it is actually correct usage in Spanish to begin a sentence with an opening inverted exclamation mark ('¡') and end it with a question mark ('?'), or vice-versa, for statements that are questions but also have a clear sense of exclamation or surprise such as: ¡Y tú quién te crees? ("Who do you think you are?!")[citation needed].
