Usually in the language of Spain and Latin, inverted punctuations are founds such as upside-down question mark or exclamation points. When you use these punctuation marks, it shows the beginning of of interrogatory or exclamatory sentences or clauses and it ends with using standard punctuation. You have to note here that the inverted punctuation. Also goes in start of the clause, so you won’t find it at the beginning of the sentence always. Let us clear the doubt by the following illustration:
Janice, ¿adónde vas? (Janice, where are you going?)
¿Adónde vas, Janice? (Where are you going, Janice?)
The inverted punctuation is also used as a combination of exclamation mark and question mark. But it cannot be illustrated as there is no equivalent in languages like English. This is so useful that we hope that other languages also start using it.
What does an upside down question mark or exclamation point mean?
ust like you would usually only place ?! at the end of sentence, in Spanish you also have to place the upside down question mark or exclamation point version at the beginning of a sentence. If you want to exclaim the question you can use it like this: ¡¿Qué pasa con usted?!. Or you can actually combine both in a combo called interrobang like this: ⸘Qué pasa con usted‽.
Languages using upside down question mark:
The Spanish language has been using Upside punctuation like upside question mark and exclamation mark since 18th century. This was started upon the recommendation of the Real Academia Española (Royal Spanish Academy). It is mostly known as being used by Spanish. But other languages which are related in Iberian languages such as Galician and Catalan. Also have been using Upside punctuation marks. The use of these upside punctuation marks are, however, a recent development in Laptops or PCs.
Upside down exclamation points
Most of the languages that use upside down question mark also use upside down exclamation point for punctuation. Its use is same as the upside down question mark. You can use it in the beginning of an exclamatory sentence while the sentence ends with the standard punctuation. For your information, an exclamatory statement is one which is used to communicate surprise, a declaration, or a forceful order.
On how to type this upside down punctuation on your Laptop or PC. Please refer to our blog, Upside down exclamation point.
Read: Upside down Exclamation point: Method to Use in PC
How to make upside-down question mark on your device?
If you have access to a Spanish language keyboard online or you have one then you won’t face any problem with this. But otherwise Making an upside down punctuation mark may seem daunting to you. You don’t have to follow a difficult procedure for it. Just with some commands and methods, you will be able to use. This methods may vary depending on your device.
Inverted question mark on an Android device
You have to look for “sym” (short for symbols) page which can be found on the mobile keyboard. Then navigate to the second page if you want to access upside down punctuation marks an an Android device. A menu will open and all the inverted punctuations including upside down question mark will be found on it.
Inverted question mark on an iOS device
It is much easier to access the upside question mark on an iOS device. To access it, firstly you have to look up the traditional question-mark. It is mostly located below the 123 button on the keyboard of your mobile. Now you just have to keep holding the question mark and a little bubble will pop up. In this pop up, the inverted question mark will be available. You just have to select the mark to insert it where ever you want.
Inverted punctuation on Mac or PC
Insert special characters
You can easily use the insert tab in both Microsoft Word and Google Docs to find special characters. When you have to add the upside down question mark, just go to the menu of special characters and select the punctuation. Many filters are available in the menu of special characters. Because of this you can select characters which are common to different languages.
Shortcut Key
If you are writing in Spanish long-term then inserting punctuation individually every single time can become cumbersome. So knowing a few shortcut keys will be beneficial for you. For this you have to depend upon your keyboard and operating system. Some common methods which will allow you to easily insert an upside-down question mark are as follows:
- MacOS platform: Press ⇧ Shift+Alt/⌥ Option+/
- English (US) keyboards with Microsoft Windows: Press Alt+0191
- Microsoft Word: Press Crtl+Alt first, then hold while pressing Shift+?
Switch keyboard to US-International layout
All the Windows users having a US keyboard can switch to a US International layout. This will help in converting the right-hand Alt key. This right-hand Alt key will summon all the characters which are not usually found on a standard keyboard. This can happen when pressed in combination with other keys.
Use Unicode point entries
As long as the software that you are using supports Unicode entries, you can use it on any keyboard. You have to press Ctrl+⇧ Shift+u, then type BF. After doing this, you can summon the upside down question mark. You just have to press enter to confirm its insertion.
Conclusion:
We have provided you with some of the fun details that we have have found on the Upside down question mark. How to use the it in different devices like computer, android and IOS. And also some basic knowledge regarding it. So hope you enjoyed reading this. Also learned something new today. Thank You for the read.