End Punctuation: Question Mark

Koko is waiting to order breakfast at the diner, when Pip comes over. It’s his first day as a server and Koko is his first customer! But when he starts to ask her order, things get strange. "Can I take your order now!" "You want eggs, Koko, or you want waffles." "Actually, Pip, I think I’d prefer you use a question mark.” Let's help Pip do a better job by learning about "End Punctuation, The Question Mark". End punctuation is a mark at the end of a sentence, or complete thought, that tells the reader what to do. It's a bit like a traffic light telling you when to continue, slow down, or stop completely. There are different types of end punctuation marks, so today we will learn about one. The mark that looks like a curved line above a dot is called a question mark. A question mark goes at the end of an asking sentence. Many times an asking sentence will start with one of these words: who, what, when, where, why, or how. A question mark tells the reader to stop and take a full breath, but, also tells them to use a higher questioning voice at the end. Like this, do you like eggs? This way it sounds like a question. Now that we know about question marks, let's help Pip show off what he's learned. Which one of these symbols is a question mark? This is the question mark; the one with the curved line above a dot. Which sentence ends with a question mark? Is the mug hot? Order up! Here is the menu. The sentence 'Is the mug hot' ends in a question mark. Finally, which way should we read the sentence, 'What do you want, Koko' if it ends in a question mark? What do you want, Koko! No, that's not right because it sounds like we are yelling at Koko. What do you want, Koko. No, that's not right because it sounds like we are telling Koko something instead of asking her. What do you want, Koko? Yes, this is right! The question mark tells us to sound higher at the end, so Koko knows we are asking her something! While Pip tries to take Koko's order again, let's remember! Today we learned about the ending punctuation called a question mark. It is a curved line above a dot that goes at the end of an asking sentence. It acts like a tiny traffic light telling the reader when to stop and use a high questioning voice. It looks like Pip's second try at taking Koko's order was a success! "Is this what you wanted, Koko?"