# How many exclamation points? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 30, 2006, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-exclamation-points/350587 "2006-03-30T20:12:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 4:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-exclamation-points/350587/21 "2006-03-31T04:29:21Z")
? ? ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-exclamation-points/350587/22 "2006-03-31T04:48:26Z")
> [@SurrenderDorothy](#): > > The other one I overuse terribly is parentheses. I know it annoys some people, and I’m working on it, but it’s proven to be the most difficult one for me to get rid of. Oh, I am definitely a parentheses girl. And this too, when you - in some sentences - divide with hyphens. ---
**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-exclamation-points/350587/23 "2006-03-31T07:03:31Z")
[Here](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%21) is the wikipedia page for “!” Great stuff! And I learned something new: “In subtitles, a (!) symbol (an exclamation mark within parentheses) implies that a character has made an obviously sarcastic comment eg: ‘That’s a great idea Ali (!)’” ---
**Author:** ![JThunder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e95f7d/32.png) [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-exclamation-points/350587/24 "2006-03-31T13:26:40Z")
I use them to set interjections apart from the sentence following. I use commas when the feeling’s not as strong. ---
**Author:** ![Podkayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Podkayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Podkayne)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-exclamation-points/350587/25 "2006-03-31T14:08:08Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Oh, I am definitely a parentheses girl. And this too, when you - in some sentences - divide with hyphens. Hyphens are used between words or the syllables of words. You should use em-dashes to divide sentences. You can approximate an em-dash with two hyphen, or if you have a Mac, you can produce an em-dash with Option-Shift-hyphen (or Option-Underscore, if you’d rather think of it that way), or, on a PC, Alt-0151. (Hold down the Alt key as you hit the numbers in sequence on the number pad, then release.) M$ Word will auto-correct two hyphens to an em-dash—unless you have turned that option off. Also, there should be no spaces around the em-dash. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 5:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-exclamation-points/350587/26 "2006-03-31T17:10:38Z")
> [@Anaamika](#): > > Oh, I am definitely a parentheses girl. And this too, when you - in some sentences - divide with hyphens. When a female grammarian has vaginal intercourse for the first time, her hyphen is broken. From - to --. 😉 Aww, don’t get pisto, it’s only a lame pun. ---
**Author:** ![Bearflag70](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Bearflag70](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bearflag70)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2006, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-exclamation-points/350587/27 "2006-03-31T17:52:17Z")
> [@JThunder](#): > > I use them to set interjections apart from the sentence following. > > I use commas when the feeling’s not as strong. 😃 Nice!!! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-exclamation-points/350587.md?page=1)