Exclamation Marks
Exclamation mark indicate that a statement is extremely important or is spoken in a loud voice. Use them sparingly. Otherwise, your writing can sound like shouting all the way through; and when you need to raise your voice, you'll be stuck for a way to do it except with multiple marks, which is not recommended.
| Change: | But honestly! I'm not guilty!! I swear it!!! |
| to: | But honestly, I'm not guilty. I swear it! |
Just as inflation hits our dollars so that we need two or three to do what one could do in the past, so it can hit our language. Simply turning down the volume is an effective way to fight verbal inflation.
Activity
4.22 Punctuate the following sentences. In some cases, the best punctuation will depend on what you want to make the unpunctuated sentence mean.
a. Isnt that Roberts boat over there by the cove
b. When youve done your best youve got nothing to apologize for. c. I know its easy for some people but I always have trouble.
d. Ouch thats my foot youre standing on.
e. The Royals the Rangers and the Angels all have a shot at the pennant but none of them will get past the Pirates.
f. After settling into our pace we knew we could go the distance. g. These shoes which cost me $60.00 havent worn well at all and theyve never been comfortable.
h. I hate to tell you this Bob but I just sat on your lunch.
i. Natalie my favorite aunt ate supper with us last night we had a wonderful time.
j. All up and down both sides of the block people came rushing outside to watch the parade pass.
k. When I go to the beach I just like to lie in the sun watch the people and maybe play a little Frisbee where I go the ocean is much too cold for swimming.
1. That car has more than good mileage I'm thinking about its styling performance and reliability.
m. Once you find the key which is never in the same place twice the rest is easy.
n. Helicopter pilots who don't have common sense dont live long.
o. If you can do all these correctly which isnt easy you can feel pretty good about your skill with commas, apostrophes, periods, question marks, and exclamation marks.
