# Grammatical Smilie Rules?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammatical-smilie-rules/503759
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [July 21, 2009, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammatical-smilie-rules/503759 "2009-07-21T18:45:57Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@GargoyleWB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GargoyleWB)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2009, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammatical-smilie-rules/503759/1 "2009-07-21T18:45:57Z")
So…if I terminate a sentence with a smilie, should I add a period? When I do, it looks like my smilie has a beauty mark, or forgot to use its napkin.
My IMHO…a smilie shall henceforth be treated as a distinct grammatical punctuation object, with all rights, honours and privileges bestowed thereupon, and not as some inline meta-editorial subscript.
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### Author:  [@vandal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vandal)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2009, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammatical-smilie-rules/503759/2 "2009-07-21T18:52:55Z")
Well, since a smiley is not a part of “accepted” grammar and punctuation, all the rules get thrown out the window, if you decide to use one.
FWIW though, when I add a smiley, I don’t use a period. When I need to use an exclamation mark, I’ll use it at the end of the sentence, then add a smiley after the exclamation mark.
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### Author:  [@Serenata67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Serenata67)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2009, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammatical-smilie-rules/503759/3 "2009-07-21T19:46:41Z")
I usually end my sentence with the appropriate punctuation, then add the smilie. 😃
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### Author:  [@MrSquishy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrSquishy)
#### Post date: [July 21, 2009, 10:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammatical-smilie-rules/503759/4 "2009-07-21T22:11:50Z")
What about when you want to put a smiley at the end of something parenthetical (like this :))? That’s the one I always struggle with. Although it’s not much of an issue when the smiley is replaced with an icon (like this :)).
Related article: [Proofreading Service - 24-Hour Turnaround - Pain in the English](http://painintheenglish.com/?p=175)
Related XKCD: [xkcd: TED Talk](http://xkcd.com/541/)
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### Author:  [@Jamicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamicat)
#### Post date: [July 22, 2009, 7:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/grammatical-smilie-rules/503759/5 "2009-07-22T07:30:27Z")
Make a sentence, then add Smiley afterwords, with a space. ;-\>
(and never **within** a parenthesis) ;-\>
(unless, you have words :-\> in between) 😉