Definition:
A type of sentence that expresses strong feelings by making an exclamation. (Compare with sentences that make a statement, express a command, or ask a question.)
With the appropriate intonation, other sentence types (especially declarative sentences) can be used to form exclamatives.
An exclamatory sentence ends with an exclamation point.
See also:
- Basic Sentence Structures
- Ecphonesis
- Exclamatory Question
- Exercise in Identifying Sentences by Function
- Interjection
- Interrobang
- Multiple Exclamation Points
- Notes on Exclamation Points: Take Those Underpants off Your Head!
Etymology:
From the Latin, "to call"Examples and Observations:
- "It's alive! It's alive!"
(Colin Clive as Dr. Frankenstein in Frankenstein, 1931) - "Have fun storming the castle!"
(Billy Crystal as Miracle Max in The Princess Bride, 1987) - "I can't believe it! Reading and writing actually paid off!"
(Homer Simpson, The Simpsons) - "Well, here's another nice mess you've gotten me into!"
(Oliver Hardy in Sons of the Desert, 1933) - "Go confidently in the direction of your dreams!"
(Henry David Thoreau) - "Boy, do I hate being right all the time!"
(Jeff Goldblum as Dr. Malcolm in Jurassic Park, 1993) - "What a piece of work is a man! how noble in reason! how infinite in faculty! in form and moving how express and admirable! in action how like an angel! in apprehension how like a god!"
(William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act II) - "Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room!"
(Peter Sellers as President Merkin Muffley in Dr. Strangelove, 1964) - Shrek: Now, let's go before they light the torches!
Princess Fiona: Hey, they're my parents!
Shrek: Hello, they locked you in a tower!
(Shrek 2, 2004) - "Give that old dark night of the soul a hug! Howl the eternal yes!"
(Stuart Stevens, Northern Exposure) - "It has worked! You've given everything away! I know where the poison is!"
(Wallace Shawn as Vizzini in The Princess Bride, 1987) - "What a grand thing, to be loved! What a grander thing still, to love!"
(Victor Hugo) - "Sunnyside is a place of ruin and despair, ruled by an evil bear who smells of strawberries!"
(Mr. Pricklepants, Toy Story 3, 2010) - "The book is long on hyperbole and short on insight. The author deposits exclamation points at the end of too many otherwise unsurprising sentences, as if she were composing advertising copy for Champagne. 'Nineteen fifty-eight: to all appearances a banner year!'"
(Deborah Solomon, "Leo Castelli’s New York Story." The New York Times, June 3, 2010) - "To find the subject of an exclamatory sentence that is not a statement, a question, or a command, ask yourself, "About what does the sentence exclaim?" How swiftly the eagle flies! is an exclamatory sentence that does not make a simple statement, nor ask a question, nor give a command, but you will readily see that the predicate is about the eagle, so the eagle is the subject."
(Pearson and Kirchwey, Essentials of English, 1914) - "If only God would give me some clear sign! Like making a large deposit in my name in a Swiss bank."
(Woody Allen) - "It was the way that frog's eyes crumpled. His mouth was a gash of terror; the shining skin of his breast and shoulder shivered once and sagged, reduced to an empty purse; but oh those two snuffed eyes!"
(Annie Dillard, Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, 1974) - Russ Cargill: I was tricked by an idiot!
Cletus: Hey, I know how you feel. I was beat in tic-tac-toe by a chicken.
(The Simpsons Movie)
Pronunciation: ek-SKLAM-eh-tor-ee SENT-ens
Also Known As: exclamative, exclamative clause
