Sentences are an integral part of writing. One who forms better sentences has better writing skills. Sentences give meaning to the words we use, and without them, we can never express our thoughts and emotions.
When we say thoughts and emotions, we realize that sentences are not only words that provide information. That is the basic form we learned at our kindergarten. But as we learn more, we discover new types of sentences. And one type would be exclamatory sentences. Although these sentences are not frequently used in writing, they are an important type that helps one express emotion regarding something or someone.
Let us understand exclamatory sentences in detail with some examples below.
What are exclamatory sentences?
Exclamatory sentences are the type of sentences that help in expressing strong and sudden emotion. Even though these are not very common in writing, especially academic, exclamatory sentences are amongst the basic types of sentences that form the core to English grammar.
So, exclamatory sentences are used to express or showcase strong emotions or opinions concerning something or someone. They usually help in expressing excitement or enthusiasm and emphasize a particular something. In simple language, we can say that an exclamatory sentence is similar to a declarative sentence, but it is a more forceful form.
Let us look at some examples;
- What a beautiful dress!
- How scary is that!
- What an excellent performance!
- Wow, that was fantastic!
- How tasty that cake was!
These are some examples. We can see all the sentences are expressing opinions towards something. They are conveying the excitement and strong emotions.
Usage of exclamatory sentences
We learned that exclamatory sentences are used to show strong feelings or emotions. It is important to know that exclamatory sentences always end with an exclamatory (!) mark. That mark is necessary to complete the sentence and provide the desired meaning.
Also, exclamatory sentences are usually divided into few categories. And they are as follows;
The first very basic exclamatory sentences are those that express strong emotions or excitement towards something. For example;
- I really love you!
- Happy Birthday!
- I hate you!
The second type is where the sentences are used with “what”. These sentences begin with “what” to showcase a strong opinion or emotion as a reaction to something unexpected. For example;
- What a mess you are!
- What a beautiful piece of art!
- What an immature man!
The next type is where the sentences begin with “how”. They also function the same as the previous ones. They try to magnify an opinion or emotion regarding something that was sudden or unexpected.
- How creepy that man was!
- How grand the party was!
- How annoying the teacher was!
Another common way of forming an exclamatory sentence is to use it with interjections like oh, wow, etc. For example;
- Oh, what a pleasant surprise!
- Wow! How gorgeous you look!
These are some of the ways of forming an exclamatory sentence. Although used with different words, they all aim for the same thing. They showcase strong emotions and opinions.
