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Here's your Shmoop du jour, brought to you by exclamations. Or rather, EXCLAMATIONS!!!

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How should you change the below sentence to make it correct, if at all?

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"Look out," he shouted. "Do not come near."

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Question marks and exclamation points have more in common than you might think.

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Just as with question marks, exclamation points should apply to a direct exclamation.

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In a sentence like the one we've got here, the fact that this guy shouted in alarm doesn't

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require an exclamation point, but his actual warning should be punctuated to reflect its tone.

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With this in mind, we can eliminate (A) because the comma after "Look out" doesn't communicate

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the fact that the guy is shouting.

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If this one were right, it'd be a pretty lackluster shout to say the least.

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(B) manages to get an exclamation point in at the end of the second sentence, which isn't

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necessarily wrong.

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But like (A), it's guilty of not punctuating the guy's shouting with enough oomph.

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(C) gets an exclamation point a little closer to where it needs to be, but not quite close

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enough.

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By putting the exclamation point after "he said," it makes it seem like someone is shouting

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about somebody shouting.

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And by leaving the comma after "Look out" it makes it seem like the shouting that the

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person is shouting about is pretty unimpressive.

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The description of him shouting isn't a direct exclamation, so we can get choice (C) out

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of our lives.

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Choice (D) puts the oomph smack dab on the direct exclamation, making it the right answer.

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It's important to remember to exclaim at the appropriate moment; otherwise we might get

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into some awkward situations.

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