Exclamation points add strong emotion (such as: surprise,
fear, anger, joy, or urgency) to a sentence or interjection. You can add an
exclamation point to any sentence in which you want to emphasize the emotion in
that sentence.
Because of this, the usage of exclamation points is mainly
based on personal preference. While you may choose to add an exclamation point
to a certain sentence, someone else may completely disagree with that usage.
Here are 3 basic scenarios and some examples of when
exclamation points could be used:
|
When to
use exclamation
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Examples
|
|
After an interjection
|
Wow! It's finally here.
Bravo! I'm so proud of you!
Oh no! Here we go again.
|
|
After an exclamatory sentence
|
I can’t believe my eyes!
There is a water buffalo in my
room!
I am going to Hawaii!
|
|
After an imperative sentence
|
Go clean your room!
Come here now!
Don't give me any excuses!
|
Be careful about overusing exclamation points, though. Too
many exclamation points in one paper make the writer sound immature. Finally, do
not use exclamation points in formal writing.