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The exclamation mark is an intensifier. It is used to indicate surprise, urgency, finality and the like. It is most often found after interjections, but also after ellipses, contractions and inversions and after certain onomatopoeic words:
but
Sometimes the exclamation mark is used to convey a special intonation that the reader would not give the words if they were punctuated normally:
The exclamation mark is also used after forceful requests, wishes, invocations and commands:
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