Definitive Guide To The ❓ Question Mark Emoji And Other Punctuation Marks, And All The Rules Involving Them
It’s hard to go anywhere without running into emojis. Over the years, emojis have become a part of our everyday language. Without a doubt, they’ve taken the world by storm. If you’re in any need of more proof, just check out a social media app, and you’ll surely be flooded with smileys, heart emojis, animal emojis, and even a ❓ Question Mark emoji, or two.
Definitely, emojis transcend language and cultural barriers, and they are quickly becoming a global language. And, as we all know, any language, no matter how basic, has its own set of rules. The same thing goes with emojis.
Photo from techgyd.com
Does that mean, though, that a Question Mark emoji can replace the original question mark? To add to that, when is it appropriate to include an emoji inside a sentence?
Let’s all together answer these and other questions about punctuation emoji, in the following sections of the article.
The Purpose Of Emojis
It is important to know the purpose of emojis before we discuss the rules of emoji punctuation. Truthfully, this isn’t hard to grasp. Emojis exist to add tone and clarity to a conversation. They bring life and feeling to our thoughts and words.
Emojis are also able to lighten an existing mood by injecting sarcasm or humor. To further explain this point, let me ask you, have you ever wanted to complain about something but didn’t want to be so negative, so you put a 😂 Face With Tears Of Joy emoji to make it funnier?
Aside from being able to convey the tone of a conversation, emojis offer a quick and more comfortable way to express ourselves. An example of this is if you’re mad, in a hurry, and need an answer to something ASAP, the Question Mark emoji will get your point across.
Emoji Rules
To put in a few words, emojis act like punctuation. They provide clues on how to understand the words that came before them. Now that we know what they generally are for, before we can fully use them, let’s check out all the other rules surrounding them:
Emojis Appear At The End Of A Sentence Or Thought
Example: If you want to say, “I finished three reports today,” and you want to put a humorous tone to it, put an 🙃 Upside Down Face at the end of it so it looks like this:
I finished three reports today! 🙃
Emojis Replace A Period At The End Of A Sentence
Example: I enjoyed the movie I watched 😊
You don’t put a period anymore, the 😊 Smiling Face With Smiling Eyes emoji takes care of that.
However, if you are using an emoji in the middle of a sentence to replace a word, rule #2 doesn’t apply. The emoji doesn’t automatically serve as a period.
Example: After I take my 🥪, I will begin studying.
If you put a period after an emoji of food, the sentence will be grammatically incorrect.
Stance Always Comes First
What is stance?
The website freedictionary.com describes stance as a mental or emotional position. Taking ahold of that, let’s bring it to the emoji world. In the emoji world, the symbols that bring stance ro a sentence are yellow face emojis whether they be happy faces, sad faces, or lonely faces.
Photo from blindpigmedia.co.uk
As a general rule, stance comes first, then any other actions or symbols like a hug emoji or an animal or a thing emoji come next. The stance sets the tone for the rest of the emojis in your sentence, so make sure you are using the right emoji to convey the right feeling. In other words, emojis teach the reader how to feel about your content, then they bring out the actual content.
Example: Got this dress at the department store today 😀👗
By putting the 😀 Grinning Face emoji, you are showing happiness. Without the Grinning Face emoji you won’t be able to tell your audience you’re happy about what you bought. After that, you put on a dress to add more emphasis on what you did.
Tell Your Story In A Linear Way
If you’re telling a story with emojis, tell it from left to right. This is because a different order might convey a contradictory story, especially since we’re used to reading stories and words from left to right.
Example: I got your 🎓 🎁
The two emojis symbolize the phrase – graduation gift. If you were to interchange the two emojis, you’d be saying “gift graduation” and that would be grammatically incorrect.
Example: I got a ☀️ 🔥 at the beach. This one is a no-brainer. The emoji phrase means “sunburn,” but if you were to interchange the symbols, you would get the words, “burn sun,” which doesn’t mean anything.
Emojis Don’t Replace Question Marks
No, you can’t use a Question Mark emoji to replace a question mark. It doesn’t go that way. As an overall rule, we place emojis after question marks and exclamation marks.
Example: Do you like your cat? 🐈
Furthermore, when emojis appear with text, they supplement or enhance the writing. If this is hard to understand, think of emojis as real-life gestures that appear along with the words we say.
When we want to show affection to people, we use our hands to hug them. Furthermore, emojis serve this function, too – a kiss mark at the end of a sentence means you are kissing the person in real life, or blowing them a kiss.
Example: Thank you for doing this favor for me, you are the best! 💋
The Question Mark Emoji
Since we are on the topic of the ❓ Question Mark emoji, why don’t we learn more about them and how they enhance communication styles?
As mentioned earlier, the ❓ Question Mark emoji is used to ask a question. It can also be used to add dramatic emphasis to a person, place, thing, or event. If something or someone is left out of a particular situation, and you want to ask why in a dramatic way, use the ❓Question Mark emoji.
Where To Find The Question Mark Emoji
The ❓ Question Mark emoji isn’t hard to find. Apple, Google, Samsung, Twitter, and Microsoft all have their own versions. The Microsoft version of the ❓ Question Mark emoji has a black border surrounding it, while Twitter’s ❓ Question Mark emoji is wider in size and colored in a darker shade of red.
The History Of The Question Mark Emoji
Regarding the history of the Question Mark emoji, Unicode included it in Unicode 6.0 in October 2010. Unicode 6.0 is the first version of the Unicode Standard to support emoji, making the Question Mark emoji one pioneer in the world of emoji.
The White Question Mark Emoji
The ❔White Question Mark emoji is a white variant of the ❓ Question Mark emoji. It is used in pretty much the same way a question mark is used — to ask a question. However, if you want to add extra emotion or extra emphasis to your question, instead of the usual question mark, use the ❔ White Question Mark emoji.
Where To Find The White Question Mark Emoji
The ❔ White Question Mark Emoji is available on various platforms like Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter, Gmail, and Samsung.
The History Of The White Question Mark Emoji
Unicode approved the ❔ White Question Mark emoji and added it to Unicode 6.0 in 2010.
Back then, the ❔ White Question Mark emoji used to be known as the “White Question Mark Ornament.” Five years after that instance, the ❔ White Question emoji was added to Emoji 1.0.
The Exclamation Mark Emoji
The ❗Exclamation Mark emoji is an image of a red exclamation mark. The emoji is used to express emotions like surprise and anger. The ❗ Exclamation Mark emoji is also used to attract attention toward something, someone, or someplace.
Where To Find The Exclamation Mark Emoji
The ❗ Exclamation Mark emoji is widely available across different platforms. Some of these platforms are Apple, Google, Microsoft, Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter, JoyPixels, Samsung, Gmail, SoftBank, and KDDI. The Microsoft version of the ❗ Exclamation Mark emoji is slightly different than the rest because it has a black border around it. On the other hand, Samsung’s version is a bit thicker than the other ❗ Exclamation Mark emojis.
The History Of The Exclamation Mark
The ❗ Exclamation Mark emoji was officially included in Unicode 5.2 in 2009. However, this appeared to be a mere formality because the ❗ Exclamation Mark emoji was already available in Apple devices a year before that.
Moreover, in November 2008, one year before its Unicode inclusion, it was released along with the iPhone OS 2.2 update and went through an average of 19 updates.
The White Exclamation Mark Emoji
The ❕White Exclamation Mark emoji is an image of an exclamation mark colored in white. Exclamation marks are used at the end of sentences to show excitement, surprise, or shock. Sometimes, normal exclamation marks just won’t cut it when you really, really have strong emotions about something. That’s where the ❕ White Exclamation Mark emoji comes in.
Where To Find The White Exclamation Mark Emoji
The ❕ White Exclamation Mark Emoji is available on various platforms like Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter, JoyPixels, and Samsung.
History Of White Exclamation Mark Emoji
In 2010, the ❕ White Exclamation Mark was approved as part of Unicode 6.0. It was called “White Exclamation Mark Ornament” back then. Five years after that milestone, Emoji 1.0 added the ❕ White Exclamation Mark Emoji to its roster.
The Double Exclamation Mark Emoji
A variant of the Exclamation Mark Emoji is the ‼️ Double Exclamation Mark emoji. The symbol shows two exclamation marks and is used to emphasize strong emotions. Since exclamation points are used to express surprise or shock, two exclamation points show a more extreme form of shock. A shock so extreme, one exclamation point is just not enough to express.
Where To Find The Double Exclamation Mark Emoji
The ‼️ Double Exclamation Mark Emoji is available on various platforms like Apple, Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Twitter, JoyPixels, and Samsung.
History Of Double Exclamation Mark Emoji
The ‼️ Double Exclamation Mark Emoji was officially launched as part of Unicode 1.1 in 1993 and added to Emoji 1.0 in 2015.
The Exclamation Question Mark Emoji
Another variant of the Exclamation Mark Emoji is the ⁉️ Exclamation Question Mark emoji. The emoji shows a red exclamation mark and a red question mark joined together.
The ⁉️ Exclamation Question Mark Emoji is also known as the interrobang and is used when asking a rhetorical question or expressing excitement or disbelief.
Where To Find The Exclamation Question Mark Emoji
You can find the ⁉️ Exclamation Question Mark emoji on many platforms online, like Apple, Microsoft, Google, Samsung, and Twitter.
History Of Exclamation Question Mark Emoji
The ⁉️ Exclamation Question Mark Emoji was added to Emoji 1.0 in 2015. 16 years before that, in 1999, the ⁉️ Exclamation Question Mark emoji was approved as part of Unicode 3.0.
Conclusion
Photo from The Mirror
And there you have it, all you need to know on emoji punctuation and on how to punctuate emojis. Remember, if you intend to use emojis frequently, you shouldn’t forget all the rules that come with it. Grammar lays the groundwork for effective communication. Like a defective telephone wire cases static during a phone conversation, improper grammar distorts the meaning and clarity of a message.
To sum it all up, emojis are a powerful tool, but they must be used responsibly, too. As one famous web-slinger put it, “With great power comes great responsibility!”