What is the right amount of exclamation points in a formal email? Where are they appropriate if you want to come off as friendly but professional?
Answers
Answer:
1. Use it When You’re Genuinely Excited About Something, But Lose it When You’re Excited About Everything
2.Use it When You Need to Lighten the Mood, But Lose it When You’re Being Stern
3. Use it for Friendly Correspondence, But Lose it When You’re Aiming to Be Strictly Professional
4. Use it Once,
But Never More Than That
Explanation:
Use it When You’re Genuinely Excited About Something
Just look at the word exclamation point, and it becomes obvious that it’s meant to be used when you’re exclaiming something—also known as saying something with great emotion, such as surprise, excitement, or even anger.This punctuation should be reserved for those times when you really are hoping to convey significant excitement or joy.
But Lose it When You’re Excited About Everything
Nobody exclaims absolutely everything.
Give your message a read and delete the exclamation point from any place that’s unworthy of that level of excitement.
Use it When You Need to Lighten the Mood
There are those emails that aren’t so fun to send—such as needing to ask a co-worker to make significant changes to a project he’s worked on for weeks. And, as dreadful as that email is for you to write, it’s even more terrible for that person to read.
An exclamation point can come in handy in these situations, when you’re eager to inject some friendliness in order to lighten the tense mood just a bit.
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A Friendly Person's Guide to Using Exclamation Marks Correctly! And Incorrectly!
BY KAT BOOGAARD
When to Use the Exclamation Point
I have a soft spot in my heart for the exclamation point. Something about it just seems friendly to me—I consider it the warm smile of the punctuation world. And, admittedly, I’ll sprinkle it in whenever I can. Honestly, probably too much.
There have been plenty of times when I’ve gone back to read an email draft before sending, only to find that I sound like a hyped up, peppy cheerleader who’s quite literally chanting and clapping to the recipient. Entertaining? Probably. But, it’s not exactly the professional reputation I’m shooting for.
Unfortunately, there are no hard and fast rules on when you should use the exclamation point and when you’re better off sticking with that boring ol’ period. So, if you tend to fall into the same overly-enthusiastic trap I often find myself in, I’ve pulled together this handy guide just for you.
Here are three times you can go ahead and whip out that beloved punctuation—as well as three times you better hit the backspace button.
Use it When You’re Genuinely Excited About Something
Just look at the word exclamation point, and it becomes obvious that it’s meant to be used when you’re exclaiming something—also known as saying something with great emotion, such as surprise, excitement, or even anger.
This punctuation should be reserved for those times when you really are hoping to convey significant excitement or joy. So, a quick note to a co-worker saying, “Congrats on the arrival of your new bundle of joy!” is totally copasetic.
But Lose it When You’re Excited About Everything
Nobody exclaims absolutely everything—at least I certainly hope not.
So, use the power of the exclamation point sparingly. Yes, the recognition of a new baby, a marriage, a birthday, or even a “thank you” is deserving of some excitement.
Use it When You Need to Lighten the Mood
There are those emails that aren’t so fun to send—such as needing to ask a co-worker to make significant changes to a project he’s worked on for weeks.
An exclamation point can come in handy in these situations, when you’re eager to inject some friendliness in order to lighten the tense mood just a bit.
But Lose it When You’re Being Stern
However, of course, there’s a line here. If your email is meant to be more strict and straightforward, that seemingly bubbly punctuation can come off as both out of place and condescending—or, even worse, like you’re literally screaming at that person.
So, your best bet is to just play it safe and stay far away from that mark when you need to craft an email that’s firm or harsh. A line like, “Susan, these drafts are all completely wrong!!!” just isn’t going to be well-received.
Use it for Friendly Correspondence
Like I said earlier, the exclamation point seems to be the friendliest of all punctuation.
That happy hour invite email to your team or a quick note thanking your co-worker for bringing in her famous guacamole?
Use it Once
Here’s a general rule of thumb you can stick to if you find you can’t stand to tear yourself away from that beloved piece of punctuation completely: Use it once. And, I mean only once.
But Never More Than That
If you don’t attempt to in restrict yourself to only one exclamation point, you’re going to run the risk of sliding back into your old habits and having it peppered everywhere.