In phonetics, the mark is a symbol representing an alveolar click sound (as in tut tut). And they are there in all sorts of specialized settings, such as mathematics, computer languages, and Internet slang. They appear as an identity mark above a character’s head in some video games. They alert us to urgent electronic messages. They litter our roads, warning of danger ahead. However, go with your gut when it comes to the less formal convos.Exclamation marks are unavoidable these days. In summary, apply the above grammar guidelines to play it safe in your business communication. But get me on a fun text thread and watch out! I won’t hold back. How are you?” as opposed to “Hi, Sally! How are you?” I save them for emphasis and use them sparingly. Even in salutations, I now write: “Hi, Sally. Wrapping It All UpĮven though I am #TeamExclamationPoint, I have scaled back on my use of these marks. If you want to spice up your content, consider making the communication itself-the words-exciting instead of adding a mark to emphasize excitement. This goes for any form of outreach: blogs, business writing, email, reports, social media, and other correspondence. When to Avoid Using Exclamation Pointsįollow this one rule to avoid using exclamation points: Do not use exclamation points in professional communication.Įxclamation points should not be used in professional communication. For example, add them to cards, emails, handwritten letters, in social media chatter, texts, and other notes. When communicating in less formal or friendly ways, knock yourself out using exclamation marks to convey excitement (even happiness), emergency, emphasis, surprise, or strong emotion. Use them in less formal or friendly communication. Well, unless your content is supposed to be professional or communicates weighty matters. So, feel free to go crazy when posting on your social channels. Social media posts aren’t only perfect for single exclamation point usage, they almost beg for multiple marks as in this post below. Include them in social media post content. I mean, “Wow.” just doesn’t hold the weight that “Wow!” does, right? 3. For example, “Wow!”, “I’ll be damned!”, “I’ll be a monkey’s uncle!”, “Bless your soul!”, “Hallelujah!”, and “You don’t say!” are just a handful that topped the list. After a simple search in the Cambridge Dictionary, I discovered an entire list of surprise expressions. Just as exclamation points are most effective for communicating emergency or other strong emotions, they also are perfect for indicating surprise. No matter how much you, personally, do not like exclamation points, your words will not be as effective without them. Therefore, if your primary goal is to communicate a sense of urgency or another strong emotion, don’t replace this punctuation mark with a period. “Stop!”, “Wait!”, or “Whoa!” when written as “Stop.”, “Wait.”, or “Whoa.” just aren’t as effective in conveying a sense of urgency. Use exclamation points to show emergency or other strong emotions. Here are four do’s to help you know when to use exclamation points: 1. However, they have evolved, at least for some people, into coming across as rude, sloppy, and unprofessional. Interestingly, when it did, it assumed the number 1 position, literally-right above the 1 on the 1 key.Įxclamation points, or exclamation marks as they’re also called, are punctuation marks designed to show excitement, emergency, emphasis, surprise, or strong emotion. Do not use exclamation points in professional communication.Įxclamation points have been around for a long time, but the official mark didn’t go on typewriters until the 70s.
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