An exclamation point (or exclamation mark in British English) is a punctuation mark that people love to use. Unfortunately, people love to use them so much that they have rather lost their impact within sentences compared to days past. But we’re here to fix that. This guide will take you through when to use an exclamation point, when not to use one, and show you some common mistakes that writers make every day without realizing it. At the end we’ll provide a quiz to test your knowledge, so you can reassure yourself that you’re an exclamation point genius!

Exclamation Mark/ Exclamation Point (!)

American vs. British Usage of the Exclamation Point

An exclamation point (U.S.) or exclamation mark (UK) is the same punctuation mark. In both cases, we use them in an exclamatory sentence where we want to show emphasis or excitement about something in particular. In this respect, we use exclamation points in the same way, the only difference being the name for them.