Hello, everybody, welcome to my channel Sparkle English, where I teach you how to
improve your level of English so you can become a better English speaker, writer,
proofreader, and more. This next video is a part of my English writing essential series.
And I will be teaching you how to use exclamation marks. We'll go over some beginner and basic ways
to use exclamation marks, when to use exclamation marks in informal or formal writing. And then
some more advanced ways of how to use them when you're also using quotes. So let's get started.
So in this lesson, you will learn how to use exclamation marks.
This is an exclamation mark. And exclamation mark can also be called an exclamation point.
So this is something that you need to know about the most common types of sentences.
So periods go at the end of declarative sentences. For example, I like cats.
This is a declarative sentence. So we end it with a period.
question marks go at the end of interrogative sentences, which can also be called questions.
For example, do you like cats? We would end that with a question mark, because it's a
question. exclamation points go at the end of exclamatory sentences. For example, I love cats.
Here we have an exclamation point. The difference between the first sentence I like cats,
and I love cats, is that one is just a statement. I like cats. When we say I love cats,
you're saying it with a lot of excitement and energy. And so that's why we use an
exclamation mark. You could also put I love cats with a period or use an exclamation mark.
Okay, So rule number one is use an exclamation mark to show emotion, emphasis or surprise.
So we use exclamation marks to explain something. And to exclaim means to cry
out suddenly in surprise, strong emotion or pain. So here are some examples.
Here he comes! I hate you! Stop doing that! Watch out! Hello! How are you?
This cheesecake is delicious! So you can see in all of these different sentences, we're using them
in different ways. For example, you know, here he comes. It's like excitement. So we're using
an exclamation mark for excitement. Stop doing that, you know, again, it could be you're annoyed,
where you're worried. Watch out, you're trying to tell someone to be careful. So you're exclaiming,
you know, for them to be careful, or this cheesecake is delicious. You're emphasizing how
delicious the cheesecake is. For a lot of these, you could just end it with a period as well.
But when you end it with an exclamation mark is emphasizing the emotion in that sentence. Okay.
So rule number two is we use an exclamation mark at the end of a sentence. an exclamation mark
replaces a period at the end of a sentence. It can also replace a mid sentence comma, if it is inside
quotation marks. So here are some examples. Let's get married! This would be correct.
I often see people doing this, which is incorrect. Let's get married exclamation
mark with a period. This is incorrect. You only need to use the exclamation mark. Okay,
so you do not use a period, just the exclamation mark. Again, you could end the sentence
with a period or an exclamation mark, but never both. And here's the example
about how an exclamation mark can replace a mid sentence comma. This is another very common error
for people and even for native English speakers helped me Bob yelled. So normally in a quotation,
you would have a comma here that would replace a period. So for example, if we had here, we
would use a comma, we would not use a period. So some people get confused and they'll put a comma
after an exclamation mark thinking that we need to put a comma there, we only use a comma if it's
replacing a period. If it's supposed to end with an exclamation mark or a question mark, we do not
need to use the comma, the exclamation mark or the question mark replaces the comma. Okay, so this
would be incorrect. "Help me," Bob yelled. You do not need and you cannot use the comma there.
Rule number three, we use exclamation marks to express great emotion at the end of imperative
sentences. We have talked before in my other lessons about imperative sentences, which are like
commands or instructions. We usually use periods at the end of imperative sentences or commands.
However, we can use an exclamation mark to express great emotion. So here are some examples. Here's
an imperative sentence Sit down. But you could also say sit down right now. And the difference
between that is, the exclamation mark is showing there's emphasis and excitement.
Even in your voice when you're saying it. If I said sit down, it would end with a period.
It's more firm, and direct. When you have an exclamation mark, maybe you're angry, or you're,
you're saying it with a lot of emotion. Okay, so listen to the difference between the next example,
be careful, or Be careful. Okay, so when you have an excitement in your voice,
or you want to express great emotion, we're using an exclamation mark. And the last example,
stop doing that. Stop that. Okay. So you can use exclamation marks when you want to
express great emotion. So rule number four, we're going to talk about how to use
exclamation marks with quotation marks. So rule for a put the exclamation mark
at the end of the quotation, if it applies to the words enclosed by the quotation marks. I know
that sounds a little tricky. So let's look at an example. I just got a promotion, my dad exclaimed.
So like we saw with the example earlier, the exclamation mark here is going to go inside
the quotation marks because this exclamation mark applies to this entire sentence. Okay,
so we are going to keep the exclamation mark inside the quotes. Now rule for B is a
little bit more tricky. If the exclamation mark applies to the sentence as a whole,
then place it at the end of the sentence. So for example, after that, my boss told everyone that
they were fired for being completely useless. So the reason we're putting the exclamation mark here
is this exclamation mark does not just apply to what's inside the quotes. So these quotation marks
are quoting what the boss said, the boss told everyone, you're all completely useless. But the
exclamation mark is applies to the entire sentence. Imagine I'm telling my friend.
After that, my boss told everyone that they were fired for being completely useless.
Like I'm exclaiming, and showing emotion like I can't believe it. So that exclamation mark applies
to the entire sentence, not just to what's inside those quotation marks, it's not very common,
you're going to encounter something like this. This is just for you to know how to write it,
if you wanted to do something like that, or why someone would have the exclamation mark outside
the quotation mark. So that's the difference right there. Okay, So rule number five. When do
we use exclamation marks with informal and formal writing. We use exclamation marks most frequently
in informal writing. So for example, when you're talking to your friends, hey, jack, how's it
going, I can't wait to see you tomorrow. Another example. Congratulations on your engagement.
I use exclamation marks all the time, they probably use them too much.
Be careful not to overuse exclamation marks in formal writing. So in general, we avoid using
an exclamation mark or an exclamation point. In formal business writing, you should not use
exclamation marks and resumes or cover letters, you must not use them. Okay? Here's an example of
when you might see someone use an exclamation mark in a business email or something.
You did a great job on the reports, Jason. So there's an exclamation mark there, it might not
be common. But sometimes when I'm having emails with different clients of mine, and they're really
happy with my work, they'll say, Oh, I loved it, you did a great job, exclamation mark,
but just one and just once in the entire email, it won't be very often, I have a tendency of
using exclamation marks probably too much in formal writing. When I'm talking with clients.
I just find it to be really direct with just writing periods. But I I definitely
think I overdo it because my clients don't use exclamation marks. And I use them all the time
to just be on the safe side and try not to use more than one exclamation mark per email.
For sure. If you're writing something in formal business writing, just stick to periods and commas
and just try to be polite with your words, rather than overusing exclamation marks. Once you have,
you know a more comfortable relationship with someone I have clients I've been working with
for years, then I feel I can be a little bit more liberal with my exclamation point use.
Okay, so now it's time to practice. We have six different sentences and they want to correct them,
and let me know which of these sentences are correct and which of these sentences
are incorrect. So I want you to look at where the exclamation mark is placed or located, if that's
correct, if there's too many punctuation marks, and if it's the correct usage of an exclamation
mark. So we have six different sentences. And I want you to let me know how many you got correct
out of six. So I'm first going to read them all. And then I want you to on a piece of paper or in
the comment section, write your answers, and then we will check them together. So I'm going to start
reading them. Number one. Hello, how are you? Number two, I got a promotion yesterday. Number
three, Laura screamed. It's going to rain on my wedding day. Number four, stop talking to me.
Number five, I found my keys mom cried out. And number six, we just saw Justin Bieber,
my sister yelled. Okay, so pause this video and write down the answers. Now I'm going to
let you know what the answers are. So number one is incorrect. The problem with number one
is the placement. There's a space here between hello and the exclamation mark. So if you wanted
to use an exclamation mark after Hello, because we're really excited to see someone, then you
have to put the exclamation mark right beside the O. A lot of people do this when they're writing,
they put a space after the last letter of the word in the sentence and then put the
punctuation mark. But no, you have to put the exclamation mark directly beside the last letter.
Number two is correct, that's fine. Again, you could put a period there if you wanted,
but when you put the exclamation mark, it makes it more you know, you're showing excitement.
Number three, Laura screamed, it's going to rain on my wedding day. This is incorrect. And it's
incorrect because we do not need this period here. We're okay, we've got the exclamation
mark with the quotation marks and we can end it just like that. Okay, we cannot use both of
these together. The same is with number four. You can use either a period or an exclamation mark,
but you cannot use both. So we're going to get rid of the period here. Number five is correct.
Okay, I found my keys. We're going to end this with the exclamation mark. Which brings us to
number six, which is also incorrect. Again, we can use either an exclamation mark or a comma.
But we cannot use both here. So because this is an excited sentence, they just stop Justin Bieber,
we're going to use the exclamation mark instead of the comma. Okay, so let me know
in the comment section how many you got right out of six. And feel free to practice and write
your own explanatory sentences using exclamation marks in the comment section below to practice.
I hope you enjoyed this video and that it taught you something about how to use exclamation marks.
Make sure to check the description below for all of my different videos in my English writing
essentials series where I teach you how to use commas, apostrophes, quotation marks, how to
capitalize how to use colons and semi colons and more. And I will be continuing to update this
series of videos with more videos on punctuation and grammar skills that you need to know to become
an excellent English writer and speaker. So thank you very much for watching. Make sure
to subscribe to my channel for more videos just like this one and I will see you in my next video.