(3) The mark is often used parenthetically to suggest doubt: "In 1893 (?)
Gladstone became converted to Home Rule for Ireland."


The _Exclamation_ point should be sparingly used, particularly in prose.
Its chief use is to denote emotion of some kind.

(1) It is generally employed with interjections or clauses used as
interjections: "Alas! I am forsaken." "What a lovely landscape!"

(2) Expressions of strong emotion call for the exclamation: "Charge,
Chester, charge! On, Stanley, on!"

(3) When the emotion is very strong double exclamation points may be
used: "Assist him!! I would rather assist Satan!!"


The _Dash_ is generally confined to cases where there is a sudden break
from the general run of the passage. Of all the punctuation marks it is
the most misused.

(1) It is employed to denote sudden change in the construction or
sentiment: "The Heroes of the Civil War,--how we cherish them." "He was a
fine fellow--in his own opinion."

(2) When a word or expression is repeated for oratorical effect, a dash
is used to introduce the repetition: "Shakespeare was the greatest of all
poets--Shakespeare, the intellectual ocean whose waves washed the
continents of all thought."