Exclamation Point

  by Paul Martinez Pompa

Exclamation Point—a punctuation mark that indicates strong feeling in connection with what is being said.  It serves as a signpost to a reader that a sentence expresses intense feeling.  An exclamation point may end a declaratory statement (Put your fuckin hands up!), a question (Do you want me to put a cap in your mexakin ass!), or a fragment (Now asshole!).  It may express an exclamation (Your ass is going to jail!), a wish (If you move, I’ll shoot your fuckin ass!), or a cry (Okay, okay, take it easy, officer!).  As these examples show, exclamation points are commonest in written dialogue.  They should be used carefully in any writing and very seldom in formal writing.