![]() ![]() Informal communication is also a great place for interrobangs (?!). “I really don’t appreciate that!” doesn’t read quite as weighty as “I don’t appreciate that.” A well-placed period, especially in forms of communication where periods are dropped entirely, may be more effective in expressing the gravity of your feelings. Language is supposed to help you communicate what you mean, so if you need two exclamation points for an extra-emphatic opinion and 27 for an announcement to your brother about your promotion, go for it.Įxclamation points are great for informal expressions of frustration, too, but they may not be the right choice every time. Use the number of exclamation points that’s in your heart. The number of exclamation points you use in texting, DMing, creating an Instagram story, or commenting on a post is totally up to you. Your friends (hopefully) don’t care about exclamation point etiquette. Even if you’re really excited about an upcoming report, three sentences with exclamation points in a row might sound! Too! Excited! Try sticking to one exclamation point per paragraph. When writing a longer email, it’s also worth imagining how your writing would sound if you were reading it aloud. ![]() In the office, it’s also probably best to save exclamation points for positive sentiments if you try to carry on a serious conversation over email and use exclamation points, your colleague might think you’re yelling at them. Writing reports or documents that will be seen by a big portion of the company? Probably leave them out. An informal guide to exclamation points At workįor business writing, your usage depends on what, where, and to whom you’re writing. When your best friend tells you she’s engaged, is “ Yay!” enough? No! Send your friend a “Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!” with 20 exclamation points. In your personal communication, you have a lot more freedom. You’d probably appreciate a response like “Looking forward to it!!!”Īnd that’s just for business. Now let’s say you just let that colleague know that Beyoncé is going to be at that meeting. ![]() You can assume that colleague just as excited about continuing with the project as you are if they modify their punctuation: Your colleague sends you a message that says,īecause you can’t hear the way they said it, you might be left to wonder whether or not your colleague is actually looking forward to it. Let’s say you’re meeting with a colleague about a project you two worked on to talk about next steps. Instead of “Make sure you finish this by tomorrow morning!” try “It’s crucial that you finish this before tomorrow morning’s deadline.”Ĭongratulations! You just learned everything you need to know about exclamation points.If you communicate through email at work, you’ve probably typed out a quick response to a colleague, pressed “Send,” and then realized how serious your message sounded.Įxclamation points can help save you from this! Even in a business setting, they can help express excitement, relieve some pressure from a message or lighten the mood. Instead of relying on exclamation points to convey your urgency or excitement, use more vivid vocabulary. On top of that, they’re considered to be relatively casual, so using them in business or formal academic writing is a no-no. After a while, your readers will simply ignore them, or worse, become annoyed by them. Scott Fitzgerald said that using exclamation marks is like laughing at your own jokes. Either youre reading a text, or the author doesnt know what theyre doing. Except is the name of a music band (never listened to them, dont know if its good). It's a good text to send to test the waters. Sometimes stating the obvious is exactly what you need to do. I wouldn't mind getting to know you more.' You could make it slightly more specific to that person but keep it simple, considerate, and sincere. An exclamation point can help make it clear by conveying your excitement: “I can’t believe you threw me a surprise party!”īut using too many exclamation marks makes them less effective. It means the writer and the editor are dumb. 'I don't know you very well, but you seem cool. If you spoke the words “I can’t believe you threw me a surprise party” aloud, it would be clear from the tone of your voice and body language whether you meant this as an expression of gratitude or reproach. In writing, it’s often hard to convey the emotion and intent behind a simple statement. The hardest thing about using an exclamation point is probably knowing when not to use one. Using exclamation points and parentheses this way is relatively rare. They settled out of court and Jeremy got a million dollars (cash)! ![]()
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