Exclamation Mark: What It Is and How To Use It

Do you know what an exclamation mark is? This article will provide you with all of the information you need on exclamation mark, including its definition, usage, example sentences, and more!

Your writing, at its best

Compose bold, clear, mistake-free, writing with Grammarly's AI-powered writing assistant

What is an exclamation mark?

According to Your Dictionary, an exclamation mark is a punctuation that does at the end of a sentence that looks like !, a period with a vertical line over it. Like a period or a question mark, it too ends a sentence. They were originally called the note of admiration and are used to exclaim something. They are often used after interjections in an exclamatory sentence. You should avoid using exclamation marks in formal text, formal writing or academic writing. Save the exclamation point for informal writing when you are expressing strong feelings. Other forms of punctuation mark include parentheses, comma, ellipses/dots, colons, dashes, semicolons, apostrophe, hyphens, opening and closing quotation marks, a full stop, and more. An exclamation mark can be used to express awe, friendliness, sincerity,  extreme emotion, astonishment, sudden emotion, express excitement, emphatic declaration, express emotions like urgency or a shriek, body language, strong emotion, protest, and more. This might be seen frequently for warnings, in comic books, but will not be seen in an essay, logic, or mathematics. It is used in moderation by scholars, but not in online communication.

Many different languages also contain words that mean exclamation mark. You may notice that some of these translations of exclamation mark look and sound similar to one another. These are called cognates, which are words and phrases in different languages that likely have the same root or language of origin, causing them to sound the same. The below list of translations of exclamation mark is provided by Word Sense

  •  Catalan: signe d’exclamació‎ (masc.), signe d’admiració‎ (masc.)
  •  Polish: wykrzyknik‎ (masc.)
  •  Southern Altai: кыйгылу темдек‎ (kıygılu temdek)
  •  Russian: восклица́тельный знак‎ (masc.), !‎
  •  Swedish: utropstecken‎ (neut.)
  •  Romanian: semn de exclamare‎
  •  Norwegian: utropstegn‎ (neut.)
  •  Danish: udråbstegn‎ (neut.)
  •  Swahili: alama ya mshangao‎
  •  Icelandic: upphrópunarmerki‎ (neut.)
  •  Lithuanian: šauktukas‎ (masc.)
  •  Malay: tanda seru‎
  •  Tagalog: tandang padamdam‎
  •  Esperanto: krisigno‎
  •  Hebrew: סימן קריאה‎
  •  Turkish: ünlem‎, ünlem işareti‎
  •  Italian: punto esclamativo‎ (masc.)
  •  Armenian: բացականչական նշան‎
  •  Roman: ùskličnīk‎ (masc.), ùzvičnīk‎ (masc.)
  •  Japanese: 感嘆符‎ (かんたんふ, kantanfu), ビックリマーク‎ (bikkurimāku), !‎
  •  Cyrillic: у̀скличнӣк‎ (masc.), у̀звичнӣк‎ (masc.)
  •  Welsh: ebychnod‎ (masc.), rhyfeddnod‎ (masc.)
  •  Maori: tohu karanga‎
  •  Greek: θαυμαστικό‎ (neut.)
  •  Mandarin: 感嘆號‎, 感叹号‎ (gǎntànhào), !‎
  •  Latvian: izsaukuma zīme‎ (fem.)
  •  Norman: point d’excliamâtion‎ (masc.), mèrque d’excliamâtion‎ (fem.)
  •  Irish: comhartha uaillbhreasa‎ (masc.)
  •  Slovene: klicaj‎ (masc.)
  •  Dutch: uitroepteken‎ (neut.)
  •  Persian: علامت تعجیب‎ (‘alâmat-e ta’jib)
  •  Portuguese: ponto de exclamação‎ (masc.)
  •  Bulgarian: удивителна‎ (fem.)
  •  Arabic: !‎, عَلَامَة تَعَجُّب‎, عَلَامَة هُتَاف‎
  •  Spanish: signo de exclamación‎ (masc.)
  •  Afrikaans: uitroepteken‎
  •  Crimean Tatar: nida işareti‎
  •  Scottish Gaelic: clisg-phuing‎ (masc.)
  •  Hungarian: felkiáltójel‎
  •  Luxembourgish: Ausruffzeechen‎ (neut.)
  •  Czech: vykřičník‎ (masc.)
  •  Korean: 느낌표‎ (neuggimpyo)
  •  German: Ausrufezeichen‎ (neut.)
  •  Finnish: huutomerkki‎
  •  Macedonian: извичник‎
  •  French: point d’exclamation‎ (masc.)

What are examples of exclamation marks?

Exclamation marks can be used in many different contexts in the English language. Trying to use a word or grammatical technique in a sentence is one of the best ways to memorize what it is, but you can also try making flashcards or quizzes that test your knowledge. Try using this term of the day in a sentence today! Below are a couple of examples of exclamation marks that can help get you started incorporating this tool into your everyday use.  Take a look at these exclamation mark examples from Your Dictionary and see how many you can identify the exclamation mark in!

  •  I hate you!
  •  How well he listens!
  •  How bright they’ve grown in the sunlight!
  •  You’re such a liar!
  •  What a cute puppy!
  •  That birthday cake was so good!
  •  He’s such a kind soul!
  •  Happy birthday, Amy!
  •  My colleagues are such jerks!
  •  Wow, I really love you!
  •  Thank you, Sheldon!
  •  What a lovely bouquet of flowers!
  •  Your puppy is such a cutie!
  •  Grr! Said the mountain lion.,
  •  Dan, Johnny, look out!
  •  What an ugly bug!
  •  Ice cream sundaes are my favorite!
  •  What a happy ending!
  •  Eugh, that bug is so ugly!
  •  Good heavens!
  •  Sheldon’s gift was so amazing!
  •  Fantastic, let’s go!
  •  That’s such a gorgeous ring!
  •  I wish yesterday never happened!
  •  Bang! The strangers tried to brean down the door.
  •  I’m so mad right now!
  •  How fast you ran!
  •  How slow they crawl!

What are other literary techniques and devices?

There are many different literary and grammatical techniques and devices that you might see when you are reading prose or poetry. It is important to recognize these terms because they are always used for some purpose. Knowing these devices can help readers understand the author’s deeper meaning and why they are using such a device. Take a look at the below list of grammatical devices from OED and see how many you know! Then try researching ones that are unfamiliar to you. 

  • abstract
  •  interjection
  •  masculine
  •  postmodify | postmodifier
  •  conditional
  •  intensifier
  •  main clause
  •  subjective
  •  copular verb | copula
  •  vocative
  •  to-infinitive
  •  nominal relative | nominal relative clause
  •  superlative
  •  indirect speech
  •  person
  •  passive infinitive
  •  definite article
  •  protasis
  •  second person
  •  exclamation mark
  •  subordinate clause
  •  possessive adjective
  •  similative
  •  mood
  •  part of speech
  •  possessive pronoun
  •  clause
  •  count noun
  •  present participle
  •  bare infinitive
  •  collective noun
  •  ellipsis | elliptical
  •  genitive
  •  personal pronoun
  •  non-finite
  •  conjunction (conj.)
  •  construed (const., constr.)
  •  pleonasm | pleonastic
  •  feminine
  •  proper noun | proper name
  •  subjunctive
  •  indirect question
  •  finite
  •  predicative
  •  apposition
  •  reflexive
  •  locative
  •  impersonal (impers.)
  •  special use
  •  optative
  •  phrase (phr.)
  •  transitive
  •  nominative
  •  demonstrative
  •  past tense
  •  collocation | collocate
  •  that-clause
  •  auxiliary verb | auxiliary
  •  anticipatory
  •  gerund
  •  relative
  •  object | direct object | indirect object
  •  complement
  •  indefinite
  •  causative
  •  double object
  •  active
  •  adjective
  •  morpheme
  •  phrasal verb
  •  adverbial | adverbially
  •  imperative (imper.)
  •  passive
  •  neuter
  •  common noun
  •  intransitive
  •  instrumental
  •  prefix
  •  parasynthetic
  •  noun phrase
  •  simple
  •  mass noun
  •  verb (v.)
  •  antecedent
  •  element
  •  unmarked genitive
  •  prepositional object
  •  plural
  •  determiner
  •  singular
  •  dative
  •  anaphoric
  •  periphrasis | periphrastic
  •  filler
  •  appositive
  •  infinitive
  •  modal verb | modal auxiliary verb | modal auxiliary
  •  indirect passive
  •  quasi-
  •  agree | agreement
  •  cataphoric
  •  apodosis and protasis
  •  modify | modifier
  •  verbal noun
  •  objective
  •  head
  •  premodify | premodifier
  •  possessive
  •  direct object
  •  number
  •  construction
  •  sentence adverb |sentence adverbial
  •  agent noun
  •  comparative
  •  combining form (comb. form)
  •  base form
  •  adverb (adv.)
  •  positive
  •  parenthetical | parenthetically
  •  progressive
  •  article
  •  present tense
  •  gender
  •  first person
  •  preposition (prep.)
  •  participial adjective
  •  prepositional phrase
  •  cognate object
  •  combination
  •  direct speech
  •  noun (n.)
  •  case
  •  stem
  •  subject
  •  complementary
  •  attributive
  •  main verb
  •  absolute (absol.)
  •  pro-form
  •  indirect object
  •  pronoun (pron.)
  •  compound | compounding
  •  participle | past participle | present participle
  •  declarative
  •  dual
  •  direct question
  •  non-referential
  •  tense
  •  indicative
  •  perfect
  •  third-person
  •  concrete
  •  past participle
  •  zero
  •  accusative
  •  inflection | inflected | inflectional
  •  prepositional passive
  •  interrogative

Overall, an exclamation mark is a punctuation that expresses emotion.

Sources:

  1. Glossary of grammatical terms | OED 
  2. When to Use Exclamation Marks | Your Dictionary 
  3. exclamation mark: meaning, translation, synonyms | Word Sense