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Course: Grammar > Unit 8
Lesson 1: Introduction to sentencesExclamations
An exclamation is a sentence that expresses great emotion! David and Paige covered declarative, interrogative, and imperative sentences; now they tackle a fourth type of sentence that ends in an exclamation mark. Find out more!
Want to join the conversation?
- "What did you do?!" Is this sentence grammatically correct? Can you use both a question mark and an explanation mark in one sentence for punctuation?(60 votes)
- It is considered bad form to use a question mark in combination with other marks, although that is often done in informal prose in an attempt to convey complex tones: He told you what!? That combination (or similar combination) of punctuation marks is sometimes called an interrobang, but the interrobang currently has no role in academic prose.(44 votes)
- So an exclamation is only for "AHHHHHHHHHHHH!" or can it also be for "You can learn anything!"(31 votes)
- You're correct, Alpa.(12 votes)
- Is it correct to be able to use 2 punctuations at once?(13 votes)
- yes if you look at what I am typing then read the last sentence I type and notice that the period is within the last quotation mark.
She said "good morning."
So yes it is because if you end a sentence with a quotation mark then you put the period, exclamation point, or question mark inside the last quotation mark.(7 votes)
- Ins't a exclamation mark also an interrogative because I've seen mark like this: ?! or !?(5 votes)
- Exclamation isn't always interrogative. For example you could say "I love my birthday!". Since that isn't a question, it would just be exclamatory, not interrogative.
The ?! and !? punctuations are called interrobang. The actual symbol looks like an exclamation mark and question mark combined. Here it is: ‽. So you could say "How did that happen‽". It's worth noting that this symbol is not yet part of traditional English, but don't let that stop from using it here and there. (:
Thanks to @Atakan Altok for mentioning the word "interrobang" in another Khan Academy answer.(9 votes)
- why is imperative an order(6 votes)
- Something that is "imperative" must be done. For instance, if you are told that it is imperative that you clean your room, that means that you have to clean your room. You must.
The word imperative actually come from the Greek word imperare (meaning to command), and this is easy to remember because it also sounds like "imperial" and "emperor" - so you can just imagine an imperial order or think of an emperor giving an order that must be obeyed.
Hope this helps!(14 votes)
- I love you guys! you are amazing!(8 votes)
- Y r they yelling?(6 votes)
- Alas! They've found something that excites them. It's shout-worthy.(3 votes)
- Why do all the Exclamations have quotes? They don't need to! :)(2 votes)
- No. Exclamations, for heaven's sake, do not need quotes!(11 votes)
- if we can learn anything can we learn magic(5 votes)
- You can learn the magic of creating new worlds from words.(2 votes)
- Is it appropriate to use "?!" in a sentence in a professional manner?(5 votes)
Video transcript
- [Voiceover] Paige!
- [Voiceover] What? - [Voiceover] I think
we left something out of the last video.
- [Voiceover] Oh no. - [Voiceover] I left exclamations
out of the last video! - [Voiceover] That's not good. - [Voiceover] Okay, we can fix this. - [Voiceover] Okay. - [Voiceover] We just
need to make a video. - [Voiceover] Yes. - [Voiceover] Oh, hello grammarians. Hello Paige. - [Voiceover] Hi David. - [Voiceover] So, I want to talk today about the exclamation! - [Voiceover] Whoa. - [Voiceover] An exclamation
is a type of sentence, so previously we covered
three other kinds of sentence. - [Voiceover] Mm-hmm. - [Voiceover] We covered
declarative sentences, which are just sort of statements, right. We covered interrogative
sentences, which are questions. And we covered imperative
sentences, which are orders. - [Voiceover] Mm-hmm. - [Voiceover] But, but I forgot
to include the exclamation! I didn't actually forget, I
just wanted to save space. - [Voiceover] Oh okay. - [Voiceover] But Paige,
what is an exclamation? - [Voiceover] So it's a sentence or maybe a word that's like an expression of a really strong emotion. That's why we were
screaming a lot and stuff. Those were all exclamations. - [Voiceover] So it
doesn't even necessarily have to be a sentence,
you said, so it could just be something like, ow! - [Voiceover] Right. - [Voiceover] Like an
interjection like that. - [Voiceover] Yeah,
that's a great example. If you hurt yourself,
you might scream, ow! That's an exclamation. - [Voiceover] Can an exclamation also be an imperative, like if I said, look out! - [Voiceover] Yeah, I think
so, right, that's an order. - [Voiceover] Yeah. - [Voiceover] And it's being, it's being exclaimed, it's being yelled. So I think that's an exclamation too. - [Voiceover] Mm-hmm. - [Voiceover] So there's some overlap with like imperative and
exclamation sometimes. - [Voiceover] Mm-hmm, I
would also say that there's probably an overlap with
declarative sentences too. - [Voiceover] That's
true, that's very true. - [Voiceover] So you could be like, ah, that ogre is about to attack the village! - [Voiceover] Right,
that is just a statement, but you're clearly pretty scared about it. So there's an exclamation point. - [Voiceover] But I could
also walk that statement back also as an exclamation and say, I was wrong about the ogre, he's nice! - [Voiceover] Oh, he was
just coming to say hi. - [Voiceover] He's just coming to say hi. - [Voiceover] Right. - [Voiceover] Give you
a big ol' thumbs up. So we're expressing something. We're expressing strong emotion. We could just be very
excited about something. - [Voiceover] Right. - [Voiceover] Or you can
use exclamation points when you're trying to convey that someone is speaking at high volume. - [Voiceover] Okay, right. - [Voiceover] So I
could be yelling across, you know, the field, to you, my pal. - [Voiceover] Mm-hmm. - [Voiceover] To be like,
don't worry about the ogre! He's just bringing snacks. - [Voiceover] Okay, so
there's not even necessarily strong emotion there, you
just want me to hear you. - [Voiceover] Mm-hmm. - [Voiceover] 'Cause I'm far away. - [Voiceover] So Paige, I reckon that's, that's what an exclamation is. - [Voiceover] I think so. - [Voiceover] Expression of
strong emotion or volume, so they can be, they're
not always sentences, so they can be interjections like, ow! Or they can be full
sentences like, look out! Or that ogre is about
to attack the village! - [Voiceover] Yeah, it
can be a lot of things. - [Voiceover] Be a lot of things. Just like you can learn
anything, David out. - [Voiceover] Paige out.