Some sentences show strong feeling: surprise, joy, fear or excitement. “Wow, the cake is huge!” “Look out!” They are called exclamations.
An exclamation ends with an exclamation point (!), a line with a dot under it.
Key idea
An exclamation shows strong feeling. It ends with one exclamation point.
Why it works
An exclamation point tells the reader how the words would sound: loud, happy, scared or surprised. If every sentence had one, none of them would stand out, so we save it for real feeling.
Worked example: What kind of sentence?
“What a big fish”
- It starts with What, like many questions.
- But it doesn’t ask anything. Nobody answers it.
- It shows surprise, so it is an exclamation.
Answer: “What a big fish!”
Common mistake
Putting exclamation points on every sentence, or three in a row (!!!). Use one, and only when the feeling is strong.
For the grown-up. Some sentences can be telling or exclaiming depending on how they are said (“We won the game.” or “We won the game!”). Both can be right; ask your child how the person in the story feels.