Are you an EPFL student looking for a semester project?
Work with us on data science and visualisation projects, and deploy your project as an app on top of Graph Search.
Concept
Exclamation mark
Summary
The exclamation mark, or exclamation point (American English) is a punctuation mark usually used after an interjection or exclamation to indicate strong feelings or to show emphasis. The exclamation mark often marks the end of a sentence, for example: "Watch out!". Similarly, a bare exclamation mark (with nothing before or after) is often used in warning signs. The exclamation mark is often used in writing to make a character seem as though they are shouting and/or excited/surprised.
Other uses include:
In mathematics, it denotes the factorial operation.
Several computer languages use at the beginning of an expression to denote logical negation. For example, means "the logical negation of A", also called "not A". This usage has spread to ordinary language (e.g., "!clue" means no-clue or clueless).
Some languages use ǃ, a symbol that looks like an exclamation mark, to denote a click consonant.
Graphically, the exclamation mark is represented by variations on the theme of a full stop point with a vertical line above. One theory of its origin posits derivation from a Latin exclamation of joy, namely io, analogous to "hooray"; copyists wrote the Latin word io at the end of a sentence, to indicate expression of joy. Over time, the i moved above the o; that o first became smaller, and (with time) a dot.
Its evolution as a punctuation symbol after the Ancient Era can be traced back to the Middle Ages, when scribes would often add various marks and symbols to manuscripts to indicate changes in tone, pauses, or emphasis. These symbols included the punctus admirativus, a symbol that was similar in shape to the modern exclamation mark and was used to indicate admiration, surprise, or other strong emotions. The modern use of the exclamation mark was supposedly first described in the 14th century by Italian scholar Alpoleio da Urbisaglia. Literary scholar Florence Hazrat said he "felt very annoyed" that people were reading script with a flat tone, even if it was written to elicit emotions.
Official source
About this result
This page is automatically generated and may contain information that is not correct, complete, up-to-date, or relevant to your search query. The same applies to every other page on this website. Please make sure to verify the information with EPFL's official sources.
Ontological neighbourhood
Related lectures (33)
Grover Algorithm: Quantum Search
Introduces the Grover algorithm, a quantum search algorithm that speeds up searching unsorted databases.
Analysis I Exam 2022
Covers the correction of a mock exam for Analysis I, focusing on sequences, series, and limits.
Multistep methods
Covers multistep methods for solving differential equations, focusing on stability conditions and examples.
Related publications (3)
Related concepts (17)
Full stop
The full stop (Commonwealth English), period (North American English), or full point is a punctuation mark. It is used for several purposes, most often to mark the end of a declarative sentence (as distinguished from a question or exclamation). This sentence-ending use, alone, defines the strictest sense of full stop. Although full stop technically applies only when the mark is used to end a sentence, the distinction – drawn since at least 1897 – is not maintained by all modern style guides and dictionaries.
Question mark
The question mark (also known as interrogation point, query, or eroteme in journalism) is a punctuation mark that indicates an interrogative clause or phrase in many languages. In the fifth century, Syriac Bible manuscripts used question markers, according to a 2011 theory by manuscript specialist Chip Coakley: he believes the zagwa elaya ("upper pair"), a vertical double dot over a word at the start of a sentence, indicates that the sentence is a question.
Armenian alphabet
The Armenian alphabet (Հայոց գրեր, Hayoc’ grer or Հայոց այբուբեն, Hayoc’ aybuben), or more broadly the Armenian script, is an alphabetic writing system developed for Armenian and occasionally used to write other languages. It was developed around 405 AD by Mesrop Mashtots, an Armenian linguist and ecclesiastical leader. There are several inscriptions in Armenian lettering from Sinai and Nazareth that date to the beginning of the 5th century. The script originally had 36 letters; eventually, two more were adopted.