WRFH/Radio Free Hillsdale 101.7 FM - Grammar Minute: It's Not That Serious! (Exclamation Marks)

Episode Date: February 7, 2025

Do exclamation marks help or hurt your writing? Find out on today's episode of Grammar Minute!

Welcome to the Grammar Minute, where we're saving the English language 60 seconds at a time. I'm Lauren Smith and I'm back with another controversial opinion. We should not use exclamation marks. This is a bit of a generalization. In informal writing, of course, you can do whatever you want. You don't have to remove the exclamation mark from your keyboard. But when you're telling a story or trying to be persuasive, you should try to structure your sentences so that the emphasis is clear without an exclamation mark.

This punctuation mark often conveys a sense of extreme urgency or anger, which is often misplaced. Secondly, it usually violates the show don't tell rule of storytelling. An exclamation mark is a serious tell. It doesn't let the reader imagine what's going on. It just forces them to conclude that someone is experiencing a strong emotion. The tone of an exclamation mark is usually meant to be friendly, but it often comes off as overly caffeinated and possibly manic. Use exclamation mark sparingly, if at all. That's your grammar minute.