Suzy awoke to a persistent pounding on her front
door. At a few minutes to 7:00AM, she couldn't imagine what could be so
important. She grabbed a robe and put it on as she made her way to
the front door. Swinging it open she stared at a fireman. He leaned
toward her, “Your neighborhoods on fire! You've only
got a few minutes. Grab what's important and evacuate!", he said. She took in
the scene behind him. Thick smoke filled the street distorting the
wooded neighborhood. Gusty winds whipped glowing embers in the air
only to land and ignite. The fireman stepped back and pointed to the
house next door. Engulfed in flames, all four levels of an executive
home burned out of control.
Taking a deep breath she turned and screamed,
William!
Exclamation points are dramatic and increase the
suspense of stories, articles or blogs. It quickens the pulse and
draws the reader into a story line. However, there is a fine line
between enhancing a great story and smothering it. In the true story
above, firemen went door to door during the Uintah, Utah, fire trying
to save lives. The dramatic scene called for intense emotion and the
exclamation point fits. I'm also confident that many people used
colorful words ending in exclamations points while running through
the house gathering important documents, photos and keepsakes.
Social media has made poor spellers out of all of us
and that applies to proper punctuation as well. Class, avoid the
excessive exclamation point. I'm guilty of this too! The trick to
using exclamation points is to use them sparingly. Like a garnish on
a fancy dinner, they add just the right amount of flair.
I enjoyed your write-up about the exclamation point. It makes sense because social media has played a big role and how we spell now. I am guilty of that and this class is going to help me with it. I like how you started out the blog, it was intense in how it led up to emotion of the person.Great job!
ReplyDeleteOveruse of the exclamation point is one of my pet peeves; in fact, I may or may not have unfollowed an acquaintance on Facebook because she ends every single sentence with three or more exclamation points. I agree that social media has made poor spellers and punctuators (yes, I just made up that word) out of us.
ReplyDeleteI like how you tied the use of the exclamation point to a real world example. This example illustrates that an exclamation point is too excessive for use on a day-to-day basis. I personally try to avoid them unless I am extremely excited about something. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your comments!!! (Sorry, I couldn't resist.)
ReplyDeleteHahaha! Julie, can we be friends? Seriously, I laughed out loud. I promise not to unfollow you... :)
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