The researcher and wordsmith was inspired to write An Admirable Point: A Brief History of the Exclamation Mark! after realising how much negative feeling surrounds this powerful piece of punctuation.

An exclamation point ( ! ) is used to end a sentence expressing strong emotion or commands (Stop!), and may be used to close questions that are meant to convey extreme emotion (What were you thinking!

What is an exclamation mark? Sentences that end in an exclamation mark are used to show intense feelings or get attention. You can use an exclamation mark ! to show when your sentence is saying ...