Exclamatory Mood

There are six moods in English grammar. In this article, we will focus on the exclamatory mood. Exclamatives are moods of feelings.

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"Exclamatory Mood" in the English Grammar

What Is Exclamatory Mood?

'The exclamatory mood' is used to express emotions through sentences.

How to Define Exclamatory Mood?

'The exclamatory mood' is easily defined when people use it in speaking because they change their voice tone in order to express their feelings.
But the only way to define the exclamatory mood in a passage is to look at the end of the sentences to see if there is an exclamation mark or not. Because more often than not, there is an exclamation mark at the end of the sentence.

What a nice dress!

She shouted at me!

Tone

Sometimes it is hard to decide whether the sentence is a declarative or an exclamatory one because sometimes declarative sentences are followed by an exclamation mark but they are not considered exclamatory.
In this case, it is really important to put emphasis on certain words to make the mood of the sentence clear.

She is married to John!

The church is burned down!

What and How

The exclamatory mood can also be formed by wh-words (what and how ). In this case, we will face 'anastrophe' that is described as an unusual disarrangement in the word order which is actually done deliberately.
For example, interrogative words (what, how) are usually followed by an auxiliary to make interrogative sentences, but in the exclamatory mood, the word order is different.

How drunk was I!

What an idiot he was!

using 'what' to create an exclamatory sentence

Expressions with What and How

Sometimes English learners tend to shorten the exclamatory sentences by omitting the verb in exclamations with (what, and how). In this case, an exclamatory expression is formed. Take a look at some examples:

What a disaster!

How funny!

Interjections

Some sounds are used in English to express feelings such as pain, anger, disgust, etc. These 'interjections' are sometimes followed by an exclamation mark. They are used alone or they can be added to the exclamatory statements with the help of a comma.

Here are the examples:

Ouch! it hurt.

Ugh!

Wow, look at the city!

Nailed it, bingo!

What a nice haircut!

Exclamatory Questions

'Exclamation questions' are interrogative sentences that are not followed by a question mark; instead, they are followed by an exclamation mark. As a result, they express the meaning and emotion of an exclamatory sentence.

Isn't he a wise man!

Boy am I stupid!

Punctuation

Do not use (?!) or (!?) at the end of the exclamation questions, unless it is a rather informal text.

Overusing Exclamations

Overusing exclamations is exactly the same as not using them at all. Remember not to use exclamatory sentences immensely in formal writings.

Review

Exclamatory sentences are used to reveal emotions. There are different ways to make exclamatory sentences; here are the most important exclamatives.

  1. Exclamatory questions
  2. Exclamatory with Interjections
  3. Exclamatory with how and what

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