!?

Ervin said:

In dialogue, is it generally acceptable to end a sentence with "!?", to express an exclaimed question? I've seen some books do it and I like doing it my self,

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In what grammatical context? Provide an example, and it will be easier to discuss.

caw

I've seen it in light-hearted novels before. I use it in blog posts for the same reason. It's a little over-the-top if you're trying to be serious, but it might have its place if you're writing something less serious/more informal.

Some people want to create a new punctuation mark to express a surprised question, called an interrobang. But, really it's not good to use it or anything like "!?" It's better to just express exclamation using context, and use either an exclamation mark or a question mark depending on what you want to stress.

"What the hell?" The phrase itself expresses exclamation. A question mark is all you need. But the question mark gives it a bit more of an interrogative tone.

"What the hell!" Again, the context makes it clear it is a question of sorts, but really it is more of an exclamation, almost as if the person quoted is shouting, angry, and is not asking a question so much as expressing emotion.

It's used in chess notation.

dpaterso said:

I've seen this a lot in comics, but never in novels, although that's not to say I wouldn't use it (sparingly) if the situation called for shocked emphasis, e.g. and just for fun's sake:

Jane opened the bedroom door and stared in horror at Bob, who was wearing her black lace undies. "What the hell?!"

"I'm doing story research," Bob explained. "My character's mom raised him as a girl. He has issues. It's not me."

-Derek

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BTW, your name is really Bob, isn't it?! Don't try to hide it. I'll buy your "research" explanation.