As with capital letters, which will be examined in due time, exclamation points are frequently overused and therefore abused. Find below the basic rules and regulations for exclamation point usage so that you can save yourself from exploiting this innocent piece of punctuation.
Exclamation Points Show Emphasis
When trying to draw attention to a phrase or word, like something that needs to stand out to show excitement, anger or frustration, use an exclamation point. Only use one exclamation point no matter how excited, angry or frustrated the statement is meant to sound. One piece of punctuation does it all. Seriously!
“No! Don’t touch that!” shouted the teacher when the student reached toward the Bunsen burner flame.
Exclamation Points Show Surprise
Not unlike emphasis, when expressing surprise, an exclamation point is where it’s at. Again, remember the rule to only use one. No matter if something literally scares the poop out of you, one exclamation point is always enough.
“Oh my goodness, that actually scared the poop out of me!” he exclaimed as he walked toward the bathroom.
Exclamation Points Work Alone (in case that wasn’t already made clear)
As stated before, and worth stating one more time: only use one exclamation point at a time! The shouting is just as loud with one or ten.
“I told you a thousand times not to use more than one exclamation point!” the English teacher screamed at his class.
Exclamation Points Do Not Belong in Formal Business Letters
Although fun to use and great to show excitement or surprise, a formal business letter or formal piece of communication, like an email or business letter, should never use exclamation points. Formal language should be calm, cool, succinct and straightforward. There is no place for exclamation points in a letter giving someone any kind of business or work-related information. In informal messages, however, an exclamation point every once and again is acceptable, but please, avoid using symbols to indicate a happy face in order to make sure the reader knows that the message is positive.
Writing, “Have a good weekend!” is more acceptable than “Have a good weekend : )”
If you’re the head of a company, it’s best to leave the smiley faces at home. Have a little respect!
Placement of Exclamation Points in Dialogue
As demonstrated in the examples above, when placing spoken words or dialogue in quotation marks, the exclamation point goes inside the closing quotation mark no matter what. The same is true of the question mark.
“How can you say that?” she asked. “It can’t possibly be true!”
With other end-sentence punctuation, like the full-stop/period, a comma often replaces the punctuation mark to continue into the speaker’s descriptor.
Sources
- "Exclamation Mark." English Club. Web. 22 May 2011. .
- "Rules for Quotation Mark Usage | Suite101.com." Suite101.com: Online Magazine and Writers' Network. Web. 22 May 2011. .
- "The Uses of An Exclamation Point (!) in English | World-Leading Language Solutions by WhiteSmoke." English Grammar Software. Check Grammar, Edit & Enhance Your Texts Using Our Writing & Translation Tools | World-Leading Language Solutions by WhiteSmoke. Web. 22 May 2011. .
- "The Exclamation Point." National Punctuation Day. Web. 21 May 2011. .
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