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And maybe the "Thanks Alice! For help with the orphanage..." still seems a little informal because of the exclamation point. So I got to thinking, when are the
by floxy 3y ago
And maybe the "Thanks Alice! For help with the orphanage..." still seems a little informal because of the exclamation point. So I got to thinking, when are they appropriate? Something like:
"Boom! The sudden explosion rocked the mine-shaft, causing a cave-in that blocked the exit and filling the corridor with an almost asphyxiating amount of fine airborne dust."
"'Help!' she cried as the giant sea monster drug her under the water..."
...seem perfectly acceptable. I don't know, maybe they just seem informal, and so shouldn't be used in communications where you want to be taken seriously. E=m·c²! Seems like you are trying too hard. But that's a bit strange now that I think about it, because exclamation points also seem like a lazy way to keep the readers interest. So it is potentially doubly cursed; trying too hard, and yet you are too lazy to even do that right. So maybe that's reason it requires a lot of finesse to use exclamation points properly! And a good excuse to use them sparingly.
- floxy 3y ago>shouldn't be used in communications where you want to be taken seriously I'll have to retract that. There are political speeches where the exclamation point adds more than it detracts. For example, most transcripts of Martin Luther King's "I Have a Dream" speech includes exclamation points, but interestingly enough, don't have them in the same places. Also, Patrick Henry's "Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death". No exclamations that I can find in transcripts of JFK's "Ask Not" inaugural speech; maybe some should be added? Nor in Churchill's "We shall fight on the Beaches". I'd be interested to hear other's thoughts on adding one after "We shall never surrender" (@1:24 on [1]). But that doesn't necessarily give free reign. There are no exclamation points in the Gettysburg Address or the Declaration of Independence. [1] https://youtu.be/NB53TLCFhAA?si=F5xZ0qeqobgEgOwE&t=84 https://youtu.be/NB53TLCFhAA?si=F5xZ0qeqobgEgOwE&t=84