>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

>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