Top Punctuation Howlers – The Exclamation Point!

Read this great advice!

Many will use the exclamation point (a.k.a. the exclamation mark) excessively and overdramatically. In these cases, readers question the author’s credibility as well as whether they can actually trust the author’s claims.

Penny the blogger writes:

The exclamation point should be reserved for exclamations, commands, and the occasional sound effect, not statements.

Some examples from the blog:

Exclamations

“The party was amazing.” (statement) vs. “What an amazing party!” (exclamation)

Commands

“You should go.” (statement) vs. “Go!” (command)

Sound Effects

 “Bam! Pow! Thwack!”

Penny also provides good advice that one exclamation point will suffice. And when an exclamation point belongs to a quoted sentence or parenthetical sentence, it goes inside the final quotation mark or parenthesis.

For more advice on punctuation, check out the punctuation section in Garbl's Online Grammar Guides and punctuation marks in Garbl's Editorial Style Manual.