An exclamation is an expression that reflects an exaltation of spirit.
Exclamation is a term originating from the Latin exclamatĭo . It is an expression or voice that reflects an emotion or an exaltation of spirit .
For example: “When he felt the prick, the child uttered an exclamation,” “I could not contain an exclamation when I saw how the water began to gush out,” “Juana's exclamation showed that she knew nothing of the surprise that her parents had prepared for her.” relatives.”
Characteristics of exclamations
Exclamations can be associated with screams or other voices that reveal joy, anger, astonishment, indignation, sorrow or other types of affects . If a man finds out that he is going to become a father, he may exclaim phrases like “What a joy!” , "I can't believe it!" or “It's a blessing!” .
A person watching a building collapse may exclaim “Oh my God!” , "Careful!" or “Get away from there!” , different exclamations that express their astonishment or that are intended to alert people.
Exclamations, likewise, can also be interjections or onomatopoeia such as “Ay!” , “Uh!” , or “Whoa!” .
The exclamation point is also known as an exclamation point.
Exclamation mark
The exclamation point or exclamation mark ( "" , "!" ) is the sign used to emphasize an expression in written language. In most languages, it is only used to close the sentence, but in Spanish the opening sign that is placed at the beginning is also used.
When encountering an exclamation point, the intonation must be changed to achieve the exclamation. In addition to these data, it is also worth highlighting others that must be taken into account when using them correctly in any text:
- The sign that opens the exclamation must have the period at the top and the one that closes it at the bottom.
- Behind an exclamation point that closes a sentence, it is essential that the next word that appears has its first letter capitalized.
- After an exclamation point, any type of punctuation mark can be used except for the period. That is, after it there can be both a colon and a comma, semicolon or ellipsis.
- They are usually used in interjections, to indicate surprise, to make clear the irony of a statement or in sentences of an exclamatory nature.
- It is also important to be clear that in literary texts a certain freedom is left when writing what exclamation marks are. By this we refer to the fact that, only in those cases, it is allowed to use two or three signs of that type both to open a statement and to close it.
In addition to all the above, we cannot ignore the fact that exclamation marks can be used in parentheses. In these cases, what is achieved with them is to influence the doubt, the surprise or the irony that the statement itself carries.
The exclamation in rhetoric
It should be noted that the concept of exclamation is also used in rhetoric .
In this framework, the exclamation is a figure that manifests itself with the expression, in exclamatory form, of a mental consideration or a change of mood.