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The exclamation mark – or ‘screamer’ – is the most despised piece of punctuation in English. But it refuses to go away. Here's why '!' has had a new lease of life
We had a bit of a therapy session in a Forthwrite course last week.
We were discussing grammar. Always a sensitive topic, this. But we were in a safe place. We assured our participants that as no-one is ever taught English grammar in any educational institution, they could hardly be blamed if they had one or two blind spots. We all do.
So our Grammarians Anonymous session was mutually supportive, caring and nonjudgmental. Then all hell broke loose. Someone mentioned exclamation marks. Quite innocently. ‘Mark, is it okay to use them? I do all the time!’
I glanced down at the chat function at the bottom of the Zoom screen. It was busier than a Kardashian Twitter feed.
Screamer rights and wrongs
Is the exclamation mark okay? That depends who you ask.
If you consult the grammar books and style guides, the answer is a near universal ‘no’.
Don’t use an exclamation mark unless it’s absolutely necessary. The Penguin Guide to Punctuation.
Do not attempt to emphasise simple statements by using a mark of exclamation. Strunk and White, The Elements of Style.
Excessive use of exclamation marks in expository prose is a sure sign of an unpractised writer or of one who wants to add a spurious dash of sensation to something unsensational. Fowler’s Modern Usage
Of the exclamation mark there is little to be said except that its use should be confined to genuine exclamations. Mind the Stop, G V Carey
Exclamation marks. These have no place in The Daily Telegraph. Telegraph Media Group Stylebook.
Ouch! And as far as Fowler and The Telegraph are concerned – double-ouch!
To summarise, if you are drowning and you get a chance to pen a short note alerting observers to the fact, you are allowed to write Help! rather than Help. I guess any lifeguard with an acute ear for grammatical subtlety might think help (no exclamation mark) could be something else – an offer to help, maybe? Or is it a noun, as ‘the help’ is a bona fide job – rather than a demand for immediate assistance. So the exclamation mark puts the verb in the right context. It’s an accusative: you – help me, now!
Unless you're drowning or in the middle of a fire, then, the exclamation mark is a no-no for the men who write these guides – serious-minded men, not given to raising their voices unnecessarily.
Not quite dead yet!
The exclamation mark evolved in the Middle Ages to express wonder and admiration. Like words, punctuation evolves. Donald Trump, for example, did not use them to express wonder and admiration. He used them to amplify statements that were already written at stadium-rock-concert volume.
It has been estimated that 68% of the Trumpian tweets featured a screamer. We haven’t got space to go into the joys of nominative determinism. Just let me briefly note that in old English, ‘Trump’ means a blast of a horn or the loud breaking of wind. Maybe exclamation marks go with the territory.
But I think the exclamation mark has found a new, non-Trumpian function unnoticed by the grammar experts.
Consider this email:
I hope you are well and had a lovely weekend! I know you said that you were collating feedback from the team and so I wondered if you wanted to have a call this week? I am around!
What’s happening here? Let’s start by replacing the exclamation marks with full stops. How does it read now? Certainly quieter. Definitely more formal. Certainly, I’d argue, less friendly.
And that’s the point. We’re increasingly using the exclamation mark to denote friendliness, accessibility and to show that we are not too stressed about the subject we’re raising.
Think about the context here. The writer is soliciting feedback about a job her company had just completed. This is a sensitive thing: giving and receiving feedback always is. I think the exclamation mark is saying, whatever the feedback is, we promise to take it in the right spirit. And that last exclamation mark – I am around! – manages to say, I am accessible, I’m eager to talk (with maybe a hint of ‘it’s a pandemic – we’re all around!’)
The exclamations are not strictly exclamations: Strunk and White would purse their collective lips. But they take the pressure off the giver of feedback and the stress out of a potentially stressful situation. You – or this writer – wouldn't reach for the screamer in a more formal document – a proposal, say, or a letter of engagement. But as a more chatty communication using the modern channels of chatty communication – Whatsapp, Snapchat, text, even email – if an exclamation mark comes naturally, I say: go right ahead!
Gender and screamers
Are women more likely to use exclamation marks than men? I need to be really careful here…
I reached automatically for the three dots there. Is that because I’m a man? That particular exclamation mark (an ellipsis) says…There’s a lot of stuff going on here that I’m too smart to mention. Put an exclamation mark instead, and it becomes Oops! I could get into trouble here!
You see the difference. Three dots: laconic and worldly-wise. Exclamation mark: amiable and self-deprecating.
In our writing classes, it tends to be the people who use the personal pronouns she/her who confess to an exclamation mark addiction. I don’t know why, though I have noticed over the years that magazines aimed at women are more fond of exclamation marks than other media.
I also notice that the men who write grammar guides are not always and overly blessed with emotional intelligence.
Let’s end with a telegram exchange between Victor Hugo and his publisher
Hugo: ?
Publisher: !
[The author was asking how his latest books was selling. The answer: extremely well].
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