Did you know that an exclamation mark is sometimes called a "bang" or a "shriek'?
And recently, I've notice that I use this little grammatical tool way too often, sometimes in my blog posts, but more often in comments that I leave on other people's posts.
The purpose of an exclamation mark is to add the bit of emphasis that you might add with your voice if you are really excited about something. But sorry, my comments are usually just not that exciting.
Exclamation points do have their place in any kind of writing. But that place is not at the end of almost every sentence that I write! Maybe I shouldn't have used one at the end of this previous sentence.
And not using one certainly doesn't mean that your sentence will end with a "fizzle" or a "whimper". They don't call "." periods any of those things. Periods are just a normal way to end a sentence, and I'm going to try to start doing that more often - unless the sentence is a question.
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