Woohoo! Exclamation Points!!!
One might think that a mark as simple as an exclamation point wouldn’t need a two-part post.
That’s probably true.
But this post is not just about the exclamation point as punctuation; it’s also about tone in communication, of which the exclamation point can play a big role.
When it comes to punctuation, very few people have trouble with correct grammatical use of the exclamation point (also called an exclamation mark). That is to say, one could feasibly (and grammatically) end every sentence with an exclamation point, and it would be okay! I really mean it! Can’t you just feel the excitement!
After a couple of sentences of that, though, your reader might think you’ve had too many shots of espresso. Your reader might even start to feel anxious, wondering what all the excitement is about, wondering what they’re missing. That’s because the exclamation point relays a heightened sense of excitement in text. And while it may not be grammatically misused, it can be misused in other ways, affecting meaning and interpretation by affecting tone. So, yes, there’s an art to using the exclamation point effectively and wisely because sometimes exclamation points do cause problems.
There’s an episode of Seinfeld called “The Sniffing Accountant” where the use (or lack thereof) of an exclamation point becomes a point of contention. Elaine’s friend Jake takes a phone message for her, writing “Myra had the baby.” No exclamation point. Elaine questions him, stating that if one of his friends had just had a baby, she would have used an exclamation point. Jake says, “Well, maybe I don’t use my exclamation points as haphazardly as you do.” A few seconds later, he says, “I didn’t know I was required to capture the mood of each caller.”
Mood, in this case, can be thought of as the equivalent of tone. As previously noted, an exclamation point shows a heightened level of excitation and, thus, changes the tone of something written. It’s quite similar to the use of emojis. We live in a text-driven society. That is to say, much of our communication with our friends and family is via social media, text messages, and the like. To that end, I would argue that we have a certain level of obligation to accurately capture mood. Maybe it’s not even so much about capturing mood though; maybe it’s more about putting in the effort to communicate effectively by understanding the person/audience with whom you’re communicating.
Happy Birthday! or Happy Birthday!!!
In my opinion, the following examples show varying (and progressive) tones of excitation.
Happy Birthday
[Tone: It’s your birthday. I’m acknowledging it. Ho hum.]
Happy Birthday!
[Tone: It’s your birthday—I hope it’s happy!]
Happy Birthday!!!
[Tone: I’m really excited about your birthday; I really hope you have a good day!]
(I tend to use two exclamation points when I wish someone good luck or send them warm thoughts on their birthday. I’ve read, though, that a person should either use one exclamation point or three and never any other number. It’s subjective though. What I’m merely offering here are explanations and some loose guidelines. You be you.)
Effective Communication!
As an undergrad, I studied organizational communication (which, of course, included interpersonal communication) before switching my focus to technical communication (which concentrates more on the written form of communication, especially as it relates to scientific or academic writing). One thing I’ve learned—both from my communication classes and from life—is that effective communication (in general) involves some anticipation of what the receiver’s response will be. In writing (be it academic writing, creative writing, or some other kind), knowing who your intended audience is, is essential. [Lest you question my comma usage right there, please note that according to the Chicago Manual of Style, the comma I placed between “is” and “is” is appropriate for clarity, even though it’s not otherwise technically warranted.]
The sender in the basic communication model “sends” a message, and the receiver “receives” it. But communication is not nearly as simple as that. There is “noise” that distorts the message. The noise can be literal noise—like if you’re talking in a loud restaurant. But “noise” also refers to things like the following: a person’s inner thoughts and anxieties, including how one feels about the person sending the message and how one feels about themselves at that moment. The message can get distorted by social noise or cultural noise; it can be affected by one’s educational level or simply one’s understanding of the topic. There can be language barriers or vocabulary barriers. Simply speaking, the message a person sends is not always the same message that gets received. But by knowing their audience, an astute communicator can (try to) anticipate problems with the message. This is true in organizational communication, and it’s true in written communication. (Really, it’s true in any kind of communication.) Part of my job as an editor, in fact, is helping writers with message clarity, helping them anticipate problems with the message’s form or content.
Here’s the thing about exclamation points: They definitely can affect the message. An exclamation point is another kind of “noise” because it sometimes involves interpretation. A sender might mean it in one way, but a receiver might interpret it in a different way. Its use is not always innocuous.
Consider the following sentences:
Example 1: Please send me the document by 5 pm.
Example 2: Please send me the document by 5 pm!
This is a made-up example, so there’s no context; regardless, Example 2 seems to indicate a sense of urgency and impatience. Depending on the context, it could even be considered passive-aggressive, especially if it’s an email exchange between two colleagues of equal standing.
Interpretation of the message is everything. Thus, the sender of a message needs to be mindful of the various ways a message might be read by the receiver.
I hope you’ll check out Part 2, where I discuss perception in communication and offer some guidelines for effective exclamation point usage in different forms of written communication.
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