Exclamation Points are Exciting!

Wow!! Have you noticed how exclamation points sometimes are overused???!!! It's over the top!!!!

If you're an enthusiastic person or writing about a topic that excites you, it's easy to overuse exclamation points. The Associated Press Stylebook suggests limiting their use to express a high degree of surprise, incredulity or other strong emotion. Too many exclamation points can leave a reader breathless.

An exclamation point can appear either inside or outside of quotation marks, depending on whether it is part of the quoted material. For example:

"How excited you must be about the new baby!" she exclaimed.

"Look out! There's a car coming!" the mother shouted at her toddler as he headed down the driveway on his tricycle.

Notice in the second example that there is no comma or period following the closing quotation mark.

Here is an example of an exclamation point that is not part of the quoted material:

Thank you so much for the tickets. Bob and I were absolutely thrilled to be able to attend the outdoor theater-in-the-round performance of "The Merchant of Venice"!

Exclamation points serve a purpose, but using too many is like the little boy who cried wolf: When they appear too frequently, they lose their impact and effectiveness.

Ruthless Editor follows The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law guidelines for word and punctuation usage. Webster's New World College Dictionary serves as a secondary reference.

If you'd like to receive Kathy's FREE monthly tips on grammar and punctuation, email your request to: contact@ruthlesseditor.com