My Grammar and I (Or Should That Be 'Me'?): Old-School Ways to Sharpen Your English

Are you questioning my orders?
When  a  question  is  really  an  instruction,  use  a  full  stop  instead  of  a  question
mark.
Would you take these books back to
the library for me?
A polite request. Is it
convenient for you to do this?
Would you take back the books as I
asked you to do yesterday .
An order. You’d better or else
.
S
OMETHING TO SHOUT ABOUT
(
OR
, E
XCLAMATION

---

MARKS
)
‘This stop denotes our Suddain Admiration,
Of what we Read, or Write, or giv Relation,
And is always cal’d an Exclamation.’
Treatise of Stops, Points, or Pauses, and of Notes which are used in writing
and Print (1680)
The exclamation mark may  be  used  at  the  end  of  a  sentence  in  the  place  of  a
full  stop,  in  order  to  express  strong  emotion,  such  as  excitement,  delight,  fear,
anger or surprise.
Hey!
Watch out!
Boo!
Stop!
Woohoo!Run!
Wow!
Fire!
Ouch!
Detention!
Now!
They may also be used to catch the reader’s attention. Compare:
Slow workmen in road.
Slow! Workmen in road.
Elephants please stay in your car.
Elephants! Please stay in your car.
But beware of overkill. Too many exclamation marks make writing overheated.
There are no real rules about using them, except Please restrain yourself . If you
overdo it –
I’d love to! Thank you so much for asking! I’ll be there in plenty of time! Oh, I’m
so excited!
I’ll kill you!!!!!!

---

Get out!!!!!
It tastes disgusting!!!!!
– you lose the impact that a single, well placed exclamation mark might have. A
well  written  sentence  should  be  able  to  pack  its  own  punch.  Besides  which,
exclamation marks are visually distracting and can get really annoying!!!!
Rule: An exclamation mark ends a sentence in place of a full stop and should be
followed by a capital letter.