Exclamation mark in pictures.
The most significant of all the significant punctuation marks in world languages and ten punctuation marks in the Russian language can be identified Exclamation point. It may look different. And this article will summarize information about when the exclamation mark was first mentioned and what it means in different areas activities.
First mentions of the exclamation mark
According to one of the sources, the first mentions of the exclamation mark in our grammar date back to the sixteenth century AD in the ancient grammars of the writer and public figure M. Smotritsky. It is worth noting that the exclamation mark at that time was called a surprising sign. But the first rules for using this sign are officially defined in the Russian grammar of Lomonosov M.V. in 1755. In English typography, the exclamation mark was introduced back in the 15th century and was interpreted as a “sign of admiration or exclamation.”
Versions of the origin of the exclamation mark
There are three versions of the origin of the exclamation mark.
1. The first version is that the exclamation mark comes from the expression “note of admiration” and is translated as a note of amazement.
2. The second is that the exclamation mark comes from the Latin word “lo”, which meant joy. According to this theory, to simplify writing, the letter “o” was placed under the letter “l”.
3. There is another version of the exclamation mark, but it is not acceptable in modern society. It consists in the fact that if index finger point up and clench the remaining fingers into a fist, it will be in the form of an exclamation mark and this action just indicates the importance of something.
Basic meanings of the exclamation point
The exclamation point is used in a wide range. It can be seen in grammar, and in mathematics, and in transport, and in household appliances, and programming, etc.
The use of exclamation marks in writing
1. In writing, an exclamation mark is placed at the end of a sentence when expressing the importance of appeal, appeal, excitement, amazement, surprise, joy, etc.
2. A satirical exclamation mark is enclosed in brackets and means a lie or some kind of absurdity.
3. An exclamation mark can be used at the end of a question sentence, but according to the rules of the Russian language it should be placed only after the question mark.
4. Can be used instead of a comma in a sentence for emotional appeal.
Can be used in a number of other situations!
Exclamation mark in transport
1. Most of all, this sign can be seen on the rear windows of cars. This means that the person behind the wheel has less than three years of driving experience.
2. Motorists may also see an exclamation mark on the instrument panel if they do something wrong. For example, the doors will not be closed or the car will not be refueled on time. These are warning lights. And this must be avoided.
3. Can also be seen in the car's owner's manual. In it, an exclamation mark is used to draw attention to the nuances when operating a car.
4. When learning the rules traffic it can also be found in traffic rules.
Using the exclamation mark in mathematics
1. In mathematics, an exclamation mark denotes en factorial. The letter n followed by the sign – n!. Or subfactorial, then the designation is the opposite - !n.
In programming
1. An exclamation point with quotation marks on either side of the “!” is a logical negation operation.
2. In hypertext markup languages HTML or PHP, the exclamation mark can be seen in the creation of a comment when creating blocks, styles, tables, etc. as. This is done so that the web developer does not get confused.
Exclamation mark in household appliances
This sign indicates any malfunction or violation of basic parameters.
For example, in refrigerator brand beko model cn 332220 s the sign lights up, which means there is a temperature violation, namely an increase for unknown reasons. IN multicookers In case of malfunctions or warnings, an exclamation mark also lights up.
Inverted exclamation point
This sign can be seen in Spanish. It is used at the beginning of an exclamation sentence in addition to the main exclamation mark.
Who can say exactly how many punctuation marks there are in the Russian language? No matter who you ask, the answers will be very different, but, as a rule, they will forget something. There are 10 punctuation marks in the Russian language, and they are used to express the most different meanings. Let's list them: period, comma, dash, exclamation point, question mark, semicolon, colon, parentheses, quotation marks and ellipsis. Of course, such a punctuation system was not formed immediately, and, as you might guess, the first sign was the dot, but the last to be used were the ellipses and dashes. Today we are talking about the exclamation mark, the history of its origin, and also answering the question of why an exclamation mark is needed in the Russian language.
The history of the origin of the exclamation mark
So why does the exclamation mark have this shape? Some may be surprised, but this sign comes from the letter combination “lo”, which in Latin was used to express joy and was placed at the end of a sentence. Subsequently, the letter “o” began to be written under the “l” in the form of a small circle, which then completely turned into a dot. In this form, this punctuation mark entered the Russian language. So if you think that modern “emoticons” are some kind of new invention, then you are in vain. As they say, “there is nothing new under the sun,” and they knew how to express joy on paper several thousand years ago. We find the first mentions of the exclamation mark in the Russian language in the ancient grammars of V.E. Adodurov and M. Smotritsky, who wrote about the so-called “amazing” mark, as the exclamation mark was called in those days. But the first rules for using this sign were formulated in his grammar of the Russian language by Mikhail Vasilyevich Lomonosov in 1755.
Using an exclamation point
Surely many will turn to this article to write an essay on why an exclamation mark and other punctuation marks are needed. Therefore, first, let’s figure out what an exclamatory sentence is. An exclamatory sentence is a sentence that expresses one or another emotional connotation. These can be sentences expressing joy, delight, surprise, fear, reproach and other emotions. It is also customary to place an exclamation mark at the end of sentences in which categorical motives are expressed and in which the question is accompanied by the expression of some emotion (that is, at the end of incentive and interrogative sentences, respectively). So, let's briefly formulate some rules for placing an exclamation mark.
- An exclamation mark is used at the end of all exclamatory sentences.
- The exclamation point is used at the end of sentences with rhetorical question(no answer required).
- An exclamation point instead of a comma is used in emotional appeals.
- An exclamation mark is placed at the end of sentences beginning with exclamation words ("how", "which", "what for", etc.).
- After interjections, as well as after the words “yes” and “no,” an exclamation mark is placed to indicate strong feelings and emotions.
- To indicate intermittency of speech, an exclamation mark may be placed after each homogeneous member offers.
- If an interrogative sentence is also an exclamation point, then an exclamation mark is placed after the question mark at the end.
- In brackets, an exclamation mark is placed either to express different feelings, or it means “attention!”
When writing, not only letters are used, but also punctuation marks: period, colon, comma, exclamation mark, dash, etc. In addition to punctuation marks, there are special symbols on a laptop keyboard - for example, a hash mark, a dollar sign, and a line for an underscore, which can be made from a dash. In this sense, the laptop keyboard is completely identical to a regular computer keyboard, offering a similar set of punctuation marks.
Signs and special characters on the keyboard
The operation of a laptop keyboard usually does not require the installation of additional software. The only exception is the functioning of “hot keys”, for which it is necessary to install special utilities downloaded from the manufacturer’s website. The remaining buttons, including those that allow you to add a dash or any other punctuation mark, work on the drivers preinstalled in the BIOS.
Depending on the selected layout, some punctuation buttons change their location. You can safely use an exclamation mark, a dash, and an opening and closing parenthesis. Even a simple dash turns into an underscore when you press the Shift key.
Most punctuation marks and special characters should be placed this way by first holding down the Shift button. If, for example, a colon is drawn above the number “6” on the right, then you can put it on the Russian layout by pressing Shift. If the layout is English, then the character that is located on the button on the left will be printed. To help you better understand the difference, here is a table with all the punctuation marks in Cyrillic (Russian) and Latin (English) layouts: 
If you need to insert characters into the text that are not on the keyboard, then use a special table that shows combinations of the Alt key with numeric codes. 
Using such tables (they are different), you can insert almost any symbol, from a note to a paragraph, an emoticon or a heart.
Creating a new layout
If you don’t like the way punctuation marks are located on the keyboard, and you constantly wonder where the comma is and where the dash is on different layouts before putting the desired character, then change the layout to suit you using free program Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator. This will solve the problem with punctuation marks moving across the keyboard. You've probably encountered this situation: in the text on English language You need to put a comma for the meaning, but on the Latin layout, when you press a button, a slash is inserted.
Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator helps eliminate this inconvenience by allowing you to customize your layout. Other users will have to explain how to put punctuation marks, but you won’t have to worry about typing.
- Launch the program. To avoid creating a keyboard layout with all the letters and punctuation marks from scratch, expand the "File" menu and click "Load Existing Keyboard."
- For example, let's edit the Latin keyboard layout. Highlight "USA" and click "OK."
- Give the project a name. Expand the "Project" menu and select "Properties".
- In the “Name” line, specify the name of the project - it will be used as the name of the folder with the configuration files. In the “Description” field, enter a name for the layout. Make it unique so it will appear in the list of Windows keyboards. If you simply write “English”, you will not be able to understand where the normal layout is and where the individual layout is.
- Return to the main program window. Look in the line “Current working directory” where the folder with the configuration files will be saved. You can change the location of the directory by clicking on the dotted button and pointing through Explorer to a different location on the disk.
To assign a new value to a key, left-click on it and in the window that appears, enter a different character or its code. Then you need to check the box next to the “Shift” item and edit the so-called upper values of the buttons on the keyboard. For example, you can split the dash and underscore into different buttons, or split the number “1” and exclamation point into separate keys. 
If you click the “All” button in the character input window, an additional menu will appear in which you can assign key values for combinations with Alt or Alt+Shift. 
It is not recommended to touch the letters to avoid confusion. Place a period, comma, colon in the English layout in the same place where they are on the keyboard in the Russian layout. Don’t forget to bring the Russian layout into line so that there are no errors or overlapping characters.
If you need additional characters that aren't natively on your keyboard, you can easily add them too using the Microsoft Keyboard Layout Creator. For example, let’s add a ruble sign to a button with a dash and underscore.
- Open the Unicode character table. Find the ruble sign. Copy the character itself or its Unicode number.
- Return to the main program window. Click the dash button, then click All.
- Insert the ruble sign into the line “ctrl+alt+key”. Save the new dash configuration by clicking OK.
To add a layout, you need to create an installation package with a setup.exe file that will launch the installer. Expand the "Project" menu and click "Build DLL and Setup Package". The installer will offer to create an operation log (click “No”) and open the folder with the file for installation in Explorer (click “Yes”). 
As you know, human speech is emotional. However, written language unable to convey emotionality verbally. For emotional enhancement and better perception of textual information, the following punctuation marks are accepted in Russian typography:
« ? » - question mark. Placed at the end of a sentence instead of a period to express a question or doubt.
« ! » - Exclamation point. Placed at the end of a sentence instead of a period to express joy, delight, amazement, etc. In addition, the exclamation mark is used when addressing someone (“Comrades!”, “Gentlemen!”), as well as to indicate an imperative mood or giving a command (“Stop!”, “Danger!”).
« !!! » - It can be used instead of an exclamation mark to indicate the highest degree of emotionality of the relationship.
« ?! » - exclamation question. Placed at the end of a sentence instead of a period to express a question, when the question must be emphasized emotionally.
« !.. » - exclamation mark-ellipsis. Unlike the ellipsis punctuation mark, only two dots are placed after the exclamation mark, not three.
« (!) » - . An unorthographic punctuation mark that is widely used in print. A common use is to draw attention to the absurdity of a quote or statement. In professional press, on the contrary, it is used to draw attention to special important points text. Used within a sentence, immediately after the text to which it relates. NOT the end of a sentence.
« (?) “- unfortunately, I don’t know the name of this sign. Also, an unorthographic sign used during reviewing to express bewilderment or disagreement with the stated thought, idea, quote.
Please note: typical mistakes Using question and exclamation marks:
1. Before the signs " ? », « ! », « ?! », « !!! », « !.. " there is never a space. Recording “Hello!!! How are you?" - incorrect, correct writing: “Hello!!! How are you?"
2. After the signs " ? », « ! », « ?! », « !!! », « !.. " is always followed by a space. There are objective reasons that prevent us from putting a space, for example, limiting the number of characters (SMS, Twitter). But there is no such restriction in blogs and diaries, so be literate.
3. Signs " (!) " And " (?) " are not punctuation marks; they are subject to the rules as if they were a sentence word. They are always preceded by a space. If satirical exclamation point ends a phrase, followed by a punctuation mark.
4. The following spelling options for combinations of exclamation and question marks are not available in Russian and only emphasize the author’s illiteracy:
« ??
», « !?
», « !!
», « ?!?!
“, - I think there are other options, which make no sense to list.
Beginners sometimes have a question: how to put an exclamation mark on the keyboard of a computer or laptop? Everything is extremely simple. In both cases, the keyboards are very similar, the differences are only at the level of the function keys and their location. Basic printed characters remain unchanged.
Above three rows of Russian letters and English alphabets there is a row with numbers. When you press these buttons normally, you will enter corresponding figure. However, if, when pressing a key, you first hold down the Shift button, then the characters that are shown in the upper left and lower right parts buttons Everything will depend on the currently selected language layout - English or Russian.
So, if you look at the numbers from 1 to 0, you can immediately notice that the “1” key has an exclamation mark. Thus, to type an exclamation mark on the keyboard, hold down the Shift key (either on the left or on the right) and press one ( Shift + 1). It should be noted that the exclamation mark will be entered regardless of the current layout, since this button does not have another auxiliary character for which it is responsible for entering.
Here is a photo of a desktop computer keyboard and a laptop keyboard so you can make sure that in both cases the key you are looking for is in the same place.
If for some reason it was not possible to put an exclamation mark, then you can:
1. Copy it directly from this page - here it is “!”. Select it, right-click and select copy. Then, use the same method to paste it into the document you need.
2. Go to a search engine, for example, Yandex. There is a keyboard icon on the right side of the input field. By clicking on it, a keyboard will open at the bottom of the screen, completely replicating a real standard keyboard.
Next, we perform the actions described at the beginning of the article, namely, press the “Shift” button, and then the number key “1”. As a result, an exclamation mark will be printed in the input field. You can also copy it from there.
3. If you work in text Microsoft editor Word, then you can type the symbol you are interested in by selecting “Insert” - “Symbol” - “Other symbols...” in the main menu.
In the dialog box that opens, you need to find the exclamation mark and click the “Insert” button, then close the window.
It wouldn’t hurt to immediately show some other symbols that are often used when typing on a computer:
Thus, we have figured out where the exclamation mark is on the keyboard, now you should not have problems finding the right key.