The Exclamation Point!
The exclamation point is greatly overused!-- Ed Truitt
One could even say it is frequently abused!
In advertising copy, it repeatedly resounds!
And in breathless prose, it literally abounds!
The poorer the writer, the more frequently the case!
The exclamation point, they readily embrace!
To give a little emphasis! To make a little point!
This punctuation mark they will appoint!
But, to make emphasis perfectly clear,
Good writers generally appear
to make little use of exclamations
and other such typographic affectations.
Vocabulary
Exclamation point - a mark to tell a strong feeling !
Advertising - announce something to everyone
Repeatedly - more than once
Copy - something made to look exactly like something else
Embrace - hug
Emphasis - special attention
Appoint - to choose
Overused - used to many times
Appear - to show up
Typographic - the style of printed letters
Vocabulary Exercise - Please fill in the blanks with the correct word
1. The children __________ sang the song "The Wheels on the Bus"" during recess.
2. It was an exact _________ of the original painting in the museum.
3. She expressed her anger by using an ___________ on her Facebook status.
4. The ___________ agency was closed due to the broken printing machine.
5. A magician would _________ when you least expect it.
6. The menu had a _________ style.
7. His great _________ on his school project was outstanding.
8. The children _________ their father with love.
9. Some word are __________ when writing a sentence.
10. High school students must _________ their class president.
Grammar Point
Write down all the nouns (a noun is names a person, thing, animal and idea) and adjectives (an adjective descrives a thing) used in this poem.
I really love this poem. I must admit I over use the exclamation point. I think people as well as myself, just get carried away with it. After people use the exclamation point over and over again in writing, it doesn't hold the same amount of significance as using it sporadically. All in all, I liked the poem and I hope to read some more on your blog.
ReplyDeleteWhat a cute poem! I would love to use this in my classroom. Like Nicole, I too, over use the exclamation point at times. I also see many of my own students overly using it. This poem is a great way to teach the students how to actually use an exclamation point.
ReplyDeleteIt's a good poem. Remember to add something that you wrote, such as a comment on the poem. I really like your user friendly definitions and your vocabulary cloze exercise.
ReplyDelete