The mark , as the Brits call it , seems so innocent on its face . A erect melodic line . A bare dot .
Yet in England , the exclaiming score — what in America is know as an exclamation point — has become a bane on the nomenclature . It is misused , overuse and abused . It is , according to England ’s Department for Education , mostly bad for 7 - year - olds to use .
In England , the exclamation mark has been deemed practicallypunctuation non grata .
To be indisputable , the low ( on its font ) exclamation item is not all that well - considered in America , either . Grammarians in the U.S. often look upon the mark much like the English do . Which is to say much like the English look upon the Americans .
" I think to warn the overuse of the exclaiming pointedness is something to be commended , " suppose Jordan Penn , take the high-pitched road . Penn , a California investing firm executive director , createdThe Punctuation Guide , a simple , almost elegant website give to the wonders of periods ( they call them " full stops " in the United Kingdom ) , semicolons , brackets and , yes , exclamation points . " I just inquire if the room they ’re doing it , I wonder if that ’s really the most effective way , " he adds .
Mignon Fogarty match . sleep together online asthe Grammar Girl , Fogarty is generally more conformable to the exclamation point than many . She will , in fact , defend its utilisation to the English .
“ The rule that they ’re proposing just is n’t a substantial rule , ” she says . “ When you force children to learn things that are n’t in reality rules , some subset of those tike will actually stockpile that with them for the rest of their lives . ”
England ’s DfE told teacher last calendar month that , in testing basal schoolhouse students — elementary school kids , to Americans — credit rating for the right role of the exclamation crisscross can be given only when a sentence start with the words " How " or " What . "
So , in the bureaucrat ' example , " What big teeth you have , Grandma ! " is correct .
" How beautiful Cinderella calculate in that dress ! " right .
" Watch out for that fall piano ! " Incorrect .
" That ’s a ludicrous formula ! " Incorrect .
" My guesswork is , when putting together a similar run , it ’s always easier to have strict rules because it makes grading promiscuous , " Fogarty says .
Education officials"clarified " things a little on March 8 .
" The use of goods and services of an ecphonesis mark , " the Standards & Testing Agency says in its elucidation ( the agency understandably has no trouble with ampersands ) , " does not change a sentence into an exclamation . " ( The agency is one of three that falls under the Department of Education . )
Whatever the backtracking now , the hue and battle cry has begin , even among the oft - stoic Brits . " It is trumpery of the gamy arcdegree , " John Sutherland , emeritus Lord Northcliffe professor of modernistic English literature at University College London , assure The Sunday Times .
In America , though , we get it . Anyone who has meet a text or an email has find out the baseless proliferation of the once rarely used exclamation degree . U.S. voters , in perhaps an especially inauspicious example , have had to endure it even in theirpresidential politics .
" To me , it ’s the equivalent of someone yelling or scream when what they have to say really just does n’t warrant that tier of ebullience , " says Penn . " I would liken it to hear to a politician rescue a very , sort of generic dismiss line on the run trail , but say it at the top of their lungs . That , to me , is what ’s irritating . "
Still , there are time when the exclamation point is just o.k. to employ , Grammar Girl say .
" There are a broad sort of sentences that could be emphatic , " Fogarty says . " It ’s an exclamation . An interposition . ' Hey ! ' ' Ouch ! ' ' Look out ! ' Those are legitimate types of sentences . "
What is not cool , and broadly not acceptable on either side of the sea , is the use of exclamation point — plural form . It ’s an exclamation level . One should do it .
You do n’t have to go overboard ! ! ! ! ! !
for sure , even multiple points are acceptable in less formal methods of communication . A text edition to a Quaker — " lease ’s go ! ! ! " — is OK . In an e-mail or letter to your boss … probably not so much .
That , of course , is the big peril of exclamation points , and perhaps why the English desire to restrict them . They can be subtle . They can slip into billet where they do n’t belong to .
" It seems as though the exclamation point has taken on the significance of earnestness , " Fogarty says . " ' Thanks ! ' seems more solemn than ' Thanks . ' "
Which means that even those who should know better sometimes feel forced to join in .
" I find out myself using exclamation points in e-mail , for example , where I usually would n’t apply it , " Penn say . " If the person I ’m corresponding with use it at the ending to say something like , ' Thanks a pile ! ' or ' Have a undecomposed weekend ! ' I sort of palpate oblige to do the same . Otherwise they ’re go to consider I ’m not all that well-disposed . "
And that , as they say in America , might leave a mark .
