According to the degree of emotional coloring, sentences are classified into two types: exclamatory and non-exclamatory. The ability to correctly determine which one is suitable for a particular case will allow you to correctly understand the essence of the sentence, read it with the right intonation and put the required punctuation mark at the end.

Non-exclamatory sentences are those that imply an ordinary, everyday tone and the absence of a strong emotional component. At the end of such sentences there is a period. For example: It's been raining all day today. According to the schedule, the train will arrive in two hours.

Exclamatory sentences are those sentences that convey strong feelings and emotions of the speaker. For example: We are very happy!

At the end of these sentences there is an exclamation mark, and their grammatical means are as follows:

1. Intonation, expressing joy, delight, sadness, surprise, anger, excitement, fear and other pronounced feelings. The pronunciation of exclamatory sentences is carried out in a higher tone, with an emphasis on the word, which imparts a greater emotional coloring.

   For example: He acted so vilely! We were completely delighted with the excursion! Nobody expected such a development of events! She was seriously scared!

2. Interjections.

   For example: Wow, what a beauty! Ah, I am amazed to the core! Eh, but we were so close to the goal!

3. Exclamation marks particles pronominal, adverbial or interjectional origin, giving the statement a characteristic emotional coloring: oh, well, well, how, where how, what for, which and others.

   For example: What an extraordinary house! Oh, wow! Well, well, what a surprise! Ugh, what disgusting!

Using three exclamation marks

Typically, by using 3 exclamation marks at the end of a sentence, the author expresses a high degree of emotional excitement. This way you can express joy or delight, anger or indignation. Sentences “Get out!!!” or “Go away and don’t come back!!!” talk about the deep feelings of the person who expresses them.

“It’s great that we are all here today!”, “What a wonderful day!” - in Russian we easily construct similar sentences to express surprise, joy and other strong feelings. But is there something similar in English? How to convey your emotions there?

Today we will talk about exclamatory sentences and how they are built in English.

So, In spoken language, we often convey our mood using tone. For writing there is an exclamation mark - "!".

It is he who makes it clear that the proposal carries a certain emotional charge. We often use exclamatory sentences to give vent to what is, as they say, boiling. With their help, we express surprise, shock, joy and other strong feelings.

What a big skyscraper!
What the hell is this!
Well, you're smart!

How is this effect achieved? Firstly, we add certain words (“what”, “what the”, “well and” and others), secondly, we change the order of words: for example, we say “Well, you’re smart!” not “Well, you’re smart!”

How are things going in English?

In English, similar sentences also exist. And, just like in Russian, “emotionality” in them arises thanks to:

• Additional words
  What - what?
  How - how?
• Changing word order

Let's look at several types of exclamatory sentences in English.

1. Exclamations with “What..!” ("Which..!")

1. Sentence diagram #1:

What + noun(a word denoting an object, phenomenon, etc.)

There is nothing complicated here: we just put item after what.

What an interesting story!
Which interesting story!

What a large room!
Which big room!

2. Scheme of proposal #2

What + verb(word denoting action)

We can also add an action to our subject. The action is placed after the subject:

What an interesting story you"ve told !
Which you told an interesting story!

What a large room he lives in!
IN Which he lives in a big room!

2. "Isn't it true?"

Sometimes we are so overwhelmed with emotions that we expect our interlocutor to share them. Let's say we make some observation, for example:

What a bright moon!
Ellen is resourceful, she can handle it.
The weather was warm.
My new bike will be cool.

When we expect that the interlocutor will most likely agree with us, we add to this phrase words like “after all,” “truth,” “isn’t it true,” “tell”:

What a bright moon, isn't it?
Ellen is resourceful, she can handle it.
Was the weather really warm?
Tell me my new bike will be cool!

In English, all these words come down to one single construction, which is connected as a “tail” at the end of the sentence. We take the main auxiliary verb indicating time (is/was/will be) and negate it:

The moon is bright.
The moon is bright.

The moon is bright, isn't"t?
The moon is bright not true whether?

The weather was warm.
The weather was warm.

The weather was warm, wasn't"t it?
Is it true, was the weather warm?

My new bike will be cool.
My new bike will be cool.

My new bike will be cool, won"t it?
Tell, will my new bike be cool?

If we had sentences with action, then we will have to “pull out” this verb, depending on what time it was.

If it’s real, then we take it out do.

The kids clean their teeth every day.
Children brush their teeth every day.

The kids clean their teeth every day, don"t they?
Children brush their teeth every day that's right?

If it’s past, we pull it out. did.

She sent you the report.
She sent you a report.

She sent you the report, didn't she?
She after all sent you the report?

If the future is will.

Helen is resourceful, she will manage.
Helen is resourceful, she can handle it.

Helen is resourceful, she will manage, won't she?
Helen is resourceful, she after all will handle it Truth?

Such a “tail” is good to attach to exclamations with what:

What a bright moon, isn't it?
Which bright moon, is not it?

What a cool bike it will be, won't it?
Which it will be a cool bike Yes?

What a detailed report she sent, didn't she?
Which she sent a detailed report, Truth?

Read more about such issues in our article.

3. Exclamations with "How..!" (“How..!”, “What..!”)

Unlike what, how attaches only adjectives (that is, words denoting characteristics).

How interesting!
Before what Interesting!

How nice of you!
How nice of you!

However, we can make such exclamations a little more complicated. To do this, we need a structure that allows us to evaluate the action. For example:

It's good to have a car.

In English this is expressed using the construction:

It is + adjective + to + verb

Examples:

It is good to have a car.
It's good to have a car.

It is dangerous to climb a mountain without training.
Climbing a mountain without preparation is dangerous.

It was interesting to look into a real telescope.
It was interesting to look through a real telescope.

It was nice of you to bring me a donut.
It was nice of you to bring me a donut.

If we want to imbue these phrases with emotion using "How", then the order should be as follows:

How + it is/was/will be + to + action

Examples:

How interesting it was to look into a real telescope!
How interesting it was to look through a real telescope!

How nice of you it was to bring me a donut!
How nice of you to bring me a donut!

So we have looked at the main types of exclamations in English. Use them, and your speech will become livelier and more varied! :)

Unlike what, how only adjectives (i.e., words denoting characteristics) are attached to themselves.

Reinforcement task

Here are neutral phrases in English. Make them exclamation points!

1. It is a high price for such a small flat.
2. It is impolite.
3. We were happy after our victory.
4. I met a strange man today.
5. He gave me good advice.
6. So, Tom is late again. It's unsurprising.
7. This present is wonderful.
8. It will be great to live on Manhattan.

Narrative are called sentences that contain a message about some fact of reality, phenomenon, event, etc. (affirmed or denied). Narrative sentences are the most common type of sentences; they are very diverse in their content and structure and are distinguished by the relative completeness of thought, conveyed by specific narrative intonation: a rise in tone on a logically highlighted word (or two or more, but one of the rises will be the largest) and calm lowering the tone at the end of a sentence: The carriage drove up to the porch of the commandant's house. The people recognized Pugachev's bell and ran after him in a crowd. Shvabrin met the impostor on the porch. He was dressed as a Cossack and grew a beard(P.).

Interrogative are sentences that are intended to encourage the interlocutor to express an idea that interests the speaker, i.e. their purpose is educational. For example: Why do you need to go to St. Petersburg?(P.); What will you tell yourself now to justify yourself?(P.).

The grammatical means of forming interrogative sentences are as follows:

1) interrogative intonation - raising the tone on a word with which the meaning of the question is associated, for example: Have you been to the Western Front?(Sim.) (Cf.: Have you been to the Western Front?; Have you been to the Western Front?);

2) word arrangement (usually the word with which the question is associated is placed at the beginning of the sentence), for example: Not Is the hostile city burning?(L.); But will he return soon with a rich tribute?(L.);

3) interrogative words - interrogative particles, adverbs, pronouns, for example: Not better Can you get behind them yourself?(P.); Is there really no woman in the world to whom you would like to leave something as a keepsake?(L.); Why are we standing here?(Ch.); Where does the glow come from?(L.); A what were you doing in my garden?(P.); What do you want me to do?(P.).

Interrogative sentences are divided into actual interrogative, interrogative-impellative and interrogative-rhetorical.

Actually, interrogative sentences contain a question that requires a mandatory answer. For example: Have you written your will?(L.); Tell me, does my uniform fit me well?(L.).

A peculiar variety of interrogative sentences, close to interrogative ones themselves, are those that, being addressed to the interlocutor, require only confirmation of what is stated in the question itself. Such sentences are called interrogative-affirmative: So are you going? (Bl.); So it's decided, Herman? (Bl.); So, to Moscow now?

(Ch.). Interrogative sentences can contain a negation of what is being asked; these are interrogative-negative sentences: So it's decided, Herman? What might you like here? It doesn't seem particularly pleasant And if he spoke... What new can he tell?

(Bl.).

Interrogative-affirmative and interrogative-negative sentences can be combined into interrogative-narrative ones, since they have a transitional nature - from a question to a message. Interrogative sentences contain an incentive to action expressed through a question. For example: So it's decided, Herman? So, maybe our wonderful poet will continue the interrupted reading? Shouldn't we talk about business first? (Ch.); - So, to Moscow now?

So will you give me Gogol? - asks Ivan Matveich Interrogative rhetorical sentences contain an affirmation or a negation. These sentences do not require an answer, since it is contained in the question itself. Interrogative-rhetorical sentences are especially common in fiction, where they are one of the stylistic means of emotionally charged speech. For example:(L.); I wanted to give myself every right not to spare him if fate had mercy on me. Who has not made such conditions with his conscience?(L.); Desires... What good is it to wish in vain and forever?(L.).

But who will penetrate into the depths of the seas and into the heart, where there is melancholy, but no passions? Essentially, interrogative-rhetorical questions also include counter questions (answer in the form of a question): - Tell me, Stepan, did you marry for love? - asked Masha. - What kind of love do we have in our village? So, to Moscow now?

- Stepan answered and grinned. Plug-in constructions can also take the form of an interrogative sentence, which also do not require an answer and serve only to attract the attention of the interlocutor, for example: The prosecutor flies headlong into the library and -- does not find either a similar number or the same date of the month of May in the Senate decisions(Fed.).

A question in an interrogative sentence may be accompanied by additional shades of a modal nature - uncertainty, doubt, distrust, surprise, etc. For example: How did you stop loving her?(L.); Don't you recognize me?(P.); And how could she let Kuragin do this?(L.T.).

Additional shades can be of an emotional nature, for example, a shade of negative expression: Are you deaf or what?; a shade of politeness (softening the question is usually achieved with the help of the particle not): Won't you come to me tomorrow? Wed: Will you come to me tomorrow?

Incentive sentences are those that express the will of the speaker; their purpose is to encourage action.

They can express: 1) an order, a request, a plea, for example: - Be silent!.. you! - Survivor exclaimed in an angry whisper, jumping to his feet.(M.G.); - Go, Peter! - the student commanded(M.G.); Uncle Grigory... bend your ear(M.G.); And you, my dear, don’t break it...(M.G.); 2.) advice, proposal, warning, protest, threat, for example: This Arina is an original woman; Please note, Nikolai Petrovich(M.G.); Pets of windy Fate, tyrants of the world! Tremble! And you, take heart and listen, rise up, fallen slaves!(P.); Look, my hands are washed more often - beware!(M.G.); 3) consent, permission, for example: Do as you wish; You can go wherever your eyes take you; 4) a call, an invitation to joint action, for example: Well, let's try with all our might to defeat the disease.(M.G.); My friend, let’s dedicate our souls to our homeland with wonderful impulses!(P.); 5) desire, for example: I would like to give him Dutch soot with rum (M. G.).

Many of these meanings of incentive sentences are not clearly differentiated (for example, plea and request, invitation and order, etc.), since this is expressed more often intonationally than structurally.

The grammatical means of forming incentive sentences are: 1) incentive intonation; 2) predicate in the form of the imperative mood; 3) special particles that add an incentive to the sentence ( come on, come on, come on, yeah, let it go).

Incentive sentences differ in the way they express the predicate.

Exclamatory sentences

exclamation marks These are sentences that are emotionally charged, which is conveyed by a special exclamatory intonation.

Different types of sentences can have an emotional connotation: narrative, interrogative, and incentive.

For example, declarative exclamatory words: He faced death face to face, as a fighter should in battle!(L.); interrogative-exclamation: Who would dare ask Ishmael about that?!(L.); exclamatory exclamations: - Oh, spare him!.. wait! - he exclaimed(L.).

The grammatical means of forming exclamatory sentences are as follows:

1) intonation, conveying a variety of feelings: joy, annoyance, grief, anger, surprise, etc. (exclamatory sentences are pronounced in a higher tone, highlighting the word that directly expresses the emotion), for example: Farewell letter of love, farewell!(P.); Appear, breathe delight and zeal to the regiments you left behind!(P.);

2) interjections, for example: Oh, this man always causes me terrible distress(Gr.); ...And, alas, my champagne triumphs over the power of her magnetic eyes!(L.); Wow!.. the food is good here! Ahti, good!(M.G.); Ugh, Lord, forgive me! Repeats the same thing five thousand times!(Gr.);

3) exclamatory particles of interjectional, pronominal and adverbial origin, giving the expression an emotional connotation: well, oh, well, where, how, what, what etc., for example: What a neck! What eyes!(Kr.); Well, here's some fun for you!(Gr.); How cute! (Gr.);(P.); That's what Kyiv is all about! What a land! How beautiful, how fresh the roses were! (T.); Wow, what a thing! Don't say a word to her!

(M.G.).

Common and non-common offers (B. Pol.); At noon Razmetnov came home for lunch and through the gate door he saw pigeons near the threshold of the hut (Shol.); In every spiritually developed person the outlines of his Motherland are repeated and live.

(Spread). A sentence can be extended by compatible, controlled and adjacent word forms (according to the rules of verb connections), included in the sentence through phrases, or by word forms related to the entire sentence as a whole. Wed: The lacquered green of the poplars glittered (Past.); One day in August, at noon, the knives and plates on the terrace turned green, and dusk fell on the flower garden. (Past.). In the first sentence, the word forms varnish and poplars, being definitions, are simultaneously included in phrases ( lacquer greens, poplar greens ); in the second - components one afternoon in August - characterize the entire predicative basis of the sentence ( knives and plates turned green ). Distributors of a proposal in general are called determinants. As a rule, various circumstances and additions that express a semantic subject or object are determinative: Winter on Tverskoy Boulevard The lacquered green of the poplars glittered one of the sisters settled The lacquered green of the poplars glittered There were a lot of snakes in the park ours moved from Bavaria to Italy The lacquered green of the poplars glittered Katyusha had a lot to do around the house(L. T.); The chief conductor liked the carriage, and he visited it every now and then The lacquered green of the poplars glittered Blok had everything that makes a great poet(Past.).

Thus, sentence propagators can be included in the predicative stem of a sentence, distributing either the composition of the subject or the composition of the predicate, or be proliferators of the stem as a whole. The term “determinant” was introduced by N.Yu. Shvedova.

An exclamatory sentence is a sentence characterized by emotional coloring and increased expressiveness. Exclamatory sentences are distinguished by a specific intonation and timbre coloring; compare: Fire! We're on fire! They often contain interjections, particles, exclamatory pronominal words; compare: Well done! Oh, these are my helpers! That's what he told you! What a rain! What a scientist he is! Who didn't he ask?

Exclamatory sentences can be built according to special syntactic models with lost or weakened grammatical and lexical meanings of the components; compare: This motorcycle was given to you! Found time to dream! Many exclamatory sentences are characterized by reverse (inverse) word order; compare: My little head is gone! He will understand you! How sweet the south wind! In writing, an exclamation point is placed at the end of an exclamatory sentence.

Sentences of all communicative types can be used as exclamatory sentences: narrative, imperative and interrogative. In this case, the general content of the proposal is modified to one degree or another. In some cases, exclamation serves to express a high degree of attribute and enhance the degree of categoricalness of a statement or expression of will; compare: What a heavy rain! He will arrive tomorrow! Come back immediately! When did this happen! In other cases - with a different intonation - an exclamatory sentence can be understood in a meaning opposite to that conveyed by the literal meaning of the words.

Thus, affirmative narrative exclamatory sentences acquire a negative meaning or express the speaker’s negative attitude towards what is being communicated; compare: I'm going to get upset because of him!(=I won’t); She will go with you!(=won't go); You understand a lot!(=you don’t understand anything). A similar meaning of expressively colored negation can be expressed by interrogative non-negative sentences; compare: Why did he go there?(=there was no need to walk); What gardens these are!(= these are not gardens); Who needs it!(=no one needs); How do I know!(=I don’t know), while negative exclamatory sentences express an expressively colored statement; compare: Who doesn't know this!(=everyone knows); Where has he not been?(=been everywhere).

According to the degree of emotional coloring, sentences are classified into two types: exclamatory and non-exclamatory. The ability to correctly determine which one is suitable for a particular case will allow you to correctly understand the essence of the sentence, read it with the right intonation and put the required punctuation mark at the end.

Non-exclamatory sentences are those that imply an ordinary, everyday tone and the absence of a strong emotional component. At the end of such sentences there is a period. For example: It has been raining all day today. According to the schedule, the train will arrive in two hours.

Exclamatory sentences are those sentences that convey strong feelings and emotions of the speaker.

For example: We are very happy!

At the end of these sentences there is an exclamation mark, and their grammatical means are as follows:

1. Intonation expressing joy, delight, sadness, surprise, anger, excitement, fear and other pronounced feelings. The pronunciation of exclamatory sentences is carried out in a higher tone, with an emphasis on the word, which imparts a greater emotional coloring.
2. Interjections.
3. Exclamatory particles of pronominal, adverbial or interjectional origin, giving the statement a characteristic emotional coloring: oh, well, well, how, where how, what for, which and others.

Using three exclamation points Typically, by using three exclamation points at the end of a sentence, the author expresses a high degree of emotional arousal. This way you can express joy or delight, anger or indignation. Sentences “Get out!!!” or “Go away and don’t come back!!!” talk about the deep feelings of the person who expresses them.

The characteristics of a sentence include such a concept as types of sentences by intonation. These are exclamatory and non-exclamatory sentences. We talk about the differences between these proposals in the article.

Distinguishing sentences by intonation

The intonation of a sentence is often confused with the purpose of the statement. However, these are completely different concepts.

According to the purpose of the statement, sentences are divided into narrative, interrogative and incentive. The first ones report something, the second ones contain a question, the third ones encourage action (contain a request, order, wish, etc.).

A sentence with any purpose of expression can be pronounced with a special emotional connotation, that is, with a pronounced feeling. It could be joy, anger, outrage, delight, and so on. It is the special emotionality in writing that is conveyed using an exclamation mark.

Here are examples of exclamatory sentences and similar non-exclamatory sentences:

• Spring came. - Spring came!
• Have you written an essay? -Have you written an essay?!
• Bring some water. - Bring some water!

How to recognize an exclamatory sentence

If we read a ready-made text, we can easily distinguish an exclamatory sentence by its punctuation mark - there is an exclamation mark at the end.

By ear, we distinguish exclamatory sentences from non-exclamatory sentences by how emotionally they are pronounced. The information in exclamatory and similar non-exclamatory sentences is the same, but the exclamation is pronounced with greater expression, louder, with the expression of some emotion.

You should not confuse incentive and exclamatory sentences: there are both exclamatory non-incentive sentences and incentive non-exclamatory ones.

For example, a sentence "Spring came." contains a simple statement of fact. It is impossible to conclude how the speaker feels about this event.

Sentence “Spring has come!” expresses strong emotions and expression. Most likely, the speaker wants to express his joy (although this cannot be determined by the exclamation mark: perhaps he wants to express disappointment, irritation, fear or other strong emotion).

Exclamatory sentences are often found in journalistic texts, where they perform a rhetorical function.

Exclamation markers

The main marker (sign) of an exclamatory sentence is the exclamation mark. This is one of the end of sentence marks; it is quite enough to show that the sentence has ended. However, in some cases, not one, but three exclamation marks are used at the end of a sentence. This is done in order to emphasize a very strong emotion.

Interrogative exclamation sentences require two marks at the end: a question mark and an exclamation mark. The rule is that an exclamation mark at the end of a sentence is placed after a question mark. Such sentences often contain not just an emotional question, but rather a rhetorical question, expressing more indignation or bewilderment than a desire to receive an answer.

Some sentences end with an exclamation mark and an ellipsis. Then one of the dots (the first one) is replaced with an exclamation mark. Example: “What an amazing incident!..”

Another common use of the exclamation mark is in the design of requests. However, it must be borne in mind that this is not a proposal in the full sense.

What have we learned?

Exclamatory sentences express special emotions and feelings; an exclamation mark is placed at the end. Sentences that differ in the purpose of the statement can be exclamatory. When you encounter a question mark and an exclamation mark at the end of a sentence, you should write the question mark first; When an exclamation mark and an ellipsis meet, the first dot is replaced with an exclamation mark.