Technicalmatters • Module7A2 .1 Informal punctuation
A Exclamationmarks
Formal English is writtenin sentences, not in a series of exclamations. Thus
exclamation marks are used almostexclusively when presentingdirectspeech.
'Getlost !' sheshouted.
In informa l writ ing,exclamationmarksare much morewidely used and are
characteristicof a very chatty, conversational style:
NoICOIu!ershe left him!
H Olemeflll!B Dashes
Dashes arehighly characteristic of informalw riti ng;the y are usedin twodifferent
ways.
a A pair ofdashes - as in this sentence - is usedfor parenthesis.
In formal writing, apair ofbrackets (li ket his)or a pairof commas, like this, are
usuallypreferred.
b A single dash canhave thesame function as the (more formal) colon,and can
meanbecause,so,namely,etc. (see page 35).
Look at the examples beloww hich showhow a singledashis used.In the first
sentence of each pair, the dash is followed by an exclamation or asurprising
statement (hencethe exclamation mark). In the secondsentence no exclamation
mark isrequired.
D OIl'tbother tolni ngOIlovercoat- it's 40 "illthe shade out he m!
DOH'tboth ertob riH gallovercoat- I'vegot(Jspare o lleyOlle(HI lise.
lI er teetharc like sta rs-they comeoutatnight!
Her teeth are[ike sta rs-th ey (lrcich ite andshiny.
After studyingthe examplesabove,punctuatethe sentencesbelow,using
dashes and exclamation marks as and whereappropriate.
1 I'mfedupwiththis stupidjoh mynewbossisevenworsethanthelasto ne
2 I' m fed up withthi s stu pidjohI want to live
3 Iwasamaze dto see Jo hnat thepartyI thought he was in prison
4 Iwasamazed to sec Johnat the party he 's normally very unsociable
5 T he wildpig didn't att ackE mily itwas Emilywhoattac kedthe wild pig
6 The wildpigdidn't attackEmilyit was justhyin gto escape
Complete the follow ing sentences, using theexamplesabove as models.
7a He 's always badly dr essed -- _7h I I e'salways badly dressed - _8a She's hadtoomilchto d rink8hShe's had too milch to drmk- _9a It'stoo coldto go camping- _9b It' s too coldtogo camping- _Task types • 107