What you learned
An exclamation is a sentence that shows strong feeling. It ends with an exclamation point.
It still starts with a capital letter. It still needs a naming part and a telling part.
Three things to keep straight
| What people think | What is true |
|---|---|
| Exclamation points make writing exciting. | They only work when they are rare. Six in a row and the reader stops noticing them. |
| More marks mean more feeling. | One mark ends a sentence. “I found my hat!!!” is wrong. |
| An exclamation point can finish any group of words. | It cannot. “The wet grass!” is still a fragment. |
The three end marks so far
| The sentence | End mark | Example |
|---|---|---|
| tells something | period | The bus is here. |
| asks something | question mark | Is the bus here? |
| shows strong feeling | exclamation point | The bus is leaving without us! |
Quick warm-up before the check
Add the mark that fits best.
- “We have art on Tuesday”
- “My tooth just fell out”
- “The fire alarm is ringing”
Answers
- “We have art on Tuesday.”
- “My tooth just fell out!”
- “The fire alarm is ringing!”
Now take the final check below.
Where to go next
- Capital Letters and End Marks: choosing among all three marks in your own writing
- Telling Sentences and Periods: the sentences that carry most of your writing
- Asking Sentences and Question Marks: sentences that want an answer
- Describing Words for Feelings: naming the feeling instead of only marking it