MADRID
– We got the question in the headline some time back - our answer at the time was, "'Cos they just are!", which was neither polite nor elucidating. While our answer may be right and factual, there is a correct usage. According to the Real Academia de la
Lengua Española (The Royal Academy of the Spanish language), question (¿?)
and exclamation (¡!) marks represent speech expressions in writing with appropriate
intonations for questions and exclamations respectively. In Spanish, they are
called double marks, opening and closing a phrase and are obligatory, although
there are a few exceptions. Some correct usage indications are:
