Exclamation, surprise, joy - these are associations subconsciously caused by an exclamation mark. He is one of the venerable punctuation marks. Information about its use in grammar is found from the sixteenth century. At that time, the exclamation point was called amazing. According to one version, it comes from the Latin word "Io", meaning joy. To simplify the spelling, the letter I was placed above o, which eventually gave the sign “!”.
The first rules for its application in writing were determined by M.V. Lomonosov in the eighteenth century.
Surprisingly, until the 70s of the last century, the exclamation mark was absent on ordinary typewriters. In order to display it on paper, a dot was first printed and only after that a superscript comma (the so-called apostrophe), having previously returned to the place of the dot.
The main application in Russian
There are certain spelling rules applicable to this mark:
- Exclamation mark ends exclamation sentences.
- Used at the end of narrative, incentive, interrogative sentences of an exclamatory nature. Helps to show emotional formulas of speech etiquette, indicating greeting, farewell, appeal, gratitude, etc.
- It is put at the end of the "rhetorical" sentences containing the question. These sentences may imply a more emotional narrative.
- It can be used in sentences instead of a comma for emotional appeal.
- After the words “yes” and “no”, an exclamation mark is used to express strong feelings.
- Used in situations where the sentence is both exclamatory and interrogative, which is indicated by two signs on the letter -?! (but not the other way around).
Other use of exclamation mark
This punctuation mark is widely used in mathematics and computer science. For example, it is used as a part of symbols to denote factorials or subfactorials, and in the programming language the “!” Sign means some operations of logical negation. Especially often we see it as attracting attention on the monitor, working at the computer.
In 2009, a new sign for motorists was introduced - a yellow exclamation mark. Drivers whose experience is less than 2 years are required to install an icon with a black exclamation mark on a yellow background on their car. This is done to alert other road users. At the same time, driving rights for a novice driver are not limited.
This amazing symbol plays an important role, attracting attention when an exclamation mark is lit on the instrument panel in the car, signaling a malfunction in the car.
The reason may be the following:
- not enough brake fluid ;
- open circuit indicator;
- leakage in the vacuum brake booster;
- the inclusion of the parking brake.
In any case, when an exclamation point is used, we always feel increased attention. After all, this symbol really means the importance of what is happening in this situation.