by Jackie King
I’m not sure when writers started using double
punctuation at the end of a sentence, but anytime I read this in any story, I
want to throw that book across the room. This weird, double-punctuation always consists
of a question mark plus an
explanation point at the end of a sentence. For example:
“Does that man have a gun?!”
Rather than:
“Does that man have a gun?”
Let’s suppose the scene had already been set up with
our protagonist observing a man dressed in camo. The guy is trying to conceal
himself behind a large indoor plant and a woman’s voice rings out,“Does that
man have a gun?”
Note from reader: I don’t need the author calling my attention to the fact that
this is exciting.
The addition of the exclamation point pulls me out
of the scene, the book, and all I hear is the author is shouting in my head, “I’m
afraid you’re a little dense and won’t understand how exciting this sentence
is, if I don’t draw attention to it.”
Note
to all writers: Readers are not dumb!
You will notice that in the above sentence that I didn't use both a period and an exclamation point, as if drawing attention to
the fact this is a declarative sentence. That would be stupid, wouldn’t it?
(Single punctuation mark.)
It’s equally stupid to use two punctuation marks at
the end of an interrogative sentence.
Do you have a pet grammar-peeve? I’d love to hear
about it.
Cheers,
Jackie
