Children being encouraged to use multiple exclamation marks!!!!!

[lecce]

Ds (Y1) was writing a little story at home today. He wrote a sentence about a whale eating the wrong kind of prey, or something (totally obsessed with Blue Planet at the moment) and then solemnly added a row of exclamation marks. Now I must admit I kind of shouted (not angrily, but maybe loudly) something along the lines of, "Ds, what on earth are they for?! One will do!" He looked crestfallen and said that his teacher had told them that the more you add, the more drama it adds to the writing. My own feelings on the matter are, well, the opposite.

My views may be coloured by the fact that I am a secondary school English teacher and and have read rather too many mediocre pieces of work entitled 'My English Story!!!!!' or 'Essay!!!!!'

Do I need to switch off my teacher-head and accept that this is a valid way of encouraging six year-olds to use a variety of punctuation, and ds will abandon the habit in good time, or can I find a way to tactfully discourage him, without seeming to undermine the teacher?

DF - father

you sure it's not mixed messages?

i.e your ds is thinking Help !!!!!!! - thinking lots of exclams at end of senetnce
where as teacher means hello! Help! Help!
meaning lots of exclams scattred throughout piece of writing

Sorry for bad actual examples

sorry meant sentence

What Chocs said

!!!!!!!! Is very Facebook. When you can't be bothered to use more words. But I'd say its becoming more common.

According to the English society 3 exclamation marks are fine !!! (and common) informally but in formal writing using an exclamation mark should be avoided if possible

www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/apr/29/exclamation-mark-punctuation

I am a primary teacher. I do not allow more than one exclamation mark but I do allow ?!
Is that wrong?

Surely if you are exclaiming a question you can use both eg.
"You saw an alien wearing my pyjamas?!" exclaimed Daffs.

One exclamation mark here. Better vocabulary and use of ellipses are encouraged here instead.

I wouldn't accept a question mark and exclamation mark together. It isn't necessary.

!!!!!!!!!!!! = twat.

"You saw an alien wearing my pyjamas?!" exclaimed Daffs.
You don't need the exclamation mark especially since the word exclaimed is used.

I constantly use ?! on MN -to show a rhetorical question. I have been known to use !!! if I think the poster is particularly preposterous. I don't have any need to use either outside MN.

I agree exoticfruits both are "acceptable" informally in emails and internet fora.

You saw an alien wearing my pyjamas?!" exclaimed Daffs.

This is why you don't need it when writing.

However on MN I am quite likely to write:
'You want your DC to be in a car crash with you?!' in reply to the usual response that turns up against leaving a 10yr old at home for 10 mins.

It depends on who you are writing for. On MN I think faster than I type and I don't bother much with punctuation and am very attached to using - to separate thoughts. If I was writing an essay, or story, I would punctuate differently. If I took time to proof read I dare say I would change it-but life is too short!

I have no problem with the questclamation / interrobang generally tbh. Just doesn't seem appropriate in school/formal writing. Likewise !!! I think children should be taught correct grammar and punctuation at school, then they can develop a more conversational writing style to use informally as well. But it's important to know how to write properly too otherwise they won't be able to hang out in pedants' corner

I think I'm reading the op differently to everyone else. When the teacher said 'the more you have, the more drama there is' surely she was meaning within the whole text rather than all in one sentence. Ok, you still don't want every sentence to have one, but two or three within the whole story might be ok. I think your son has just misunderstood the more meaning more sentences rather than more like this!!!!!!!!

Cross posted! I would say that letting a child use multiple exclamation marks is just a lazy way-if they want to make it dramatic etc there are much better uses of language.

^^ what exotic said

'You want your DC to be in a car crash with you?!' in reply to the usual response that turns up against leaving a 10yr old at home for 10 mins.

I wouldn't include the question mark since it's a rhetorical question but I might go with
"You want your DC to be in a car crash with you!!!" and perhaps even a

perhaps we should start using ¿

I put the question mark so that the reader can put the emphasis on the right words. Whatever you use; I feel it needs more than a single exclamation mark.

So Chocs, if !!! makes one appear to be an excitable 10-year-old, is it an acceptable form of punctuation for an excitable 10-year-old who is just trying to express him-/herself?(!)