Exclamation marks are used to signify strong feelings, to yell, or to emphasize expletives. Just like in real life when you shouldn’t always be yelling, use exclamation marks sparingly and only when absolutely necessary. And never, never use multiple exclamation marks (!!!) – think of the boy who cried wolf.
Exclamation marks, like periods and question marks belong immediately at the end of a sentence, don’t leave spaces between the last word and the punctuation. Using punctuation, sparingly, is best suited when writing dialogue. However there are usually better ways to indicate strong emotions, shouting, urgency, surprise, anger, etc.
Show emotions and urgency through actions. “Get in here now!” ~versus~ “Get in here now,” she stomped her foot. “I hate you!” ~versus~ “I hate you,” she shrieked loudly.
Today’s social networking lends itself to “creative” uses of grammar, spelling and the use of punctuation. Without face-to-face contact, audio communication and sometimes limited characters, some writers will resort to using abbreviated words, all upper case or mixes of punctuation marks like ?!?! While this may help communicate your emotions and intentions in a PM (private message), it does not belong in formal writing.
Most sentences requiring a closing punctuation are statements, periods are suitable for these. Some sentences are direct questions (What are these?) and should be ended with a question mark. Indirect questions (He asked what they were) is finished with a period. A statement that absolutely must be emphasized, a sudden shout, a yell of anger or pain CAN be ended with an exclamation mark.
Punctuation is important, you can’t deny it. There is a tale that went around in emails that totally demonstrates this (my apologies, I don’t know the origin):
An English professor wrote the words, “Woman without her man is nothing” on the blackboard and directed his students to punctuate it correctly. The men wrote: “Woman, without her man, is nothing.” The women wrote: “Woman: Without her, man is nothing.”
Writing exercise: Fill in the end-sentence marks, if you are not sure which one to use, say the sentence out loud and see which sounds better (see my suggestions below):
- What are you trying to do[ ]
- What’s your purpose here[ ]
- He asked what you were doing[ ]
- Stop[ ]
- I went to school today[ ]
- Darn it[ ]
- That hurt[ ]
- Surprise[ ]
- Surprise me[ ]
- Please tell me how you feel[ ]
Writing prompt: Do you know/remember the TV game show Password? For each of the following write down 5 words you would use to describe it to your partner to help them guess. Think of an object you use every day. Think of a food you like to eat. Think of an animal. Think of a party activity. Think of an item in your wardrobe.
1 [?] 2 [?] 3 [.] 4 [!] 5 [.] 6 [!] 7 [.] 8 [!] 9 [.] 10 [.]
