Hold the hysteria: A quick primer on the exclamation point

Overuse of this punctuation mark is like giving yourself a nickname or laughing at your own joke. It also spells doom for professional communications. Keep calm, and use a period instead.

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You’re charged up, knowing that your friends and family will be just as thrilled as you. You head to your Facebook or Twitter app and begin your new post with “Great news:” or “So, this happened:” or {insert your creative opener}.

Now you just have to give it that finishing touch.

Do you use an exclamation point? Do you use five or more? Is there really any limit to the number of exclamation points you can and should use?

I want to help you answer these questions. Thanks to Beth Dunn from HubSpot, we have a handy (and entertaining) flowchart. Next, I’m going to break this down for you and give you instant answers to your pressing questions about the exclamation point:

Exclamation points and their overuse

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