It was in my first office job that my habit of writing exclamation mark–ridden work emails first came to my attention. My supervisor noticed the pattern and gently asked me to tone it down. At first I ...

I was scanning the first draft of an all-staff office memo I had written the other day, trying to strike the just-right balance between exuberance and self-dignity. I reserved the most scrutiny for my ...

Sometimes, I receive e-mail and text messages with nothing but exclamation marks (lots of them) at the end of almost every sentence. I might find the odd question mark randomly thrown into the mix, ...

Why is Christian Science in our name? Our name is about honesty. The Monitor is owned by The First Church of Christ, Scientist, and we’ve always been transparent about that. The church publishes the ...

For my job, I send lots e-mails, and I have to be fast about it. The easiest way to seem friendly and not like a robot is to just throw on some exclamation points. I'm worried it's gotten out of ...

The 45th President of the United States is a big fan of a particular type of punctuation – but what does this addiction really mean? Philip Cowell finds out. There is really only one rule when it ...

Word, word, word, word, word, punctuation mark. This is how we read. Sometimes there are more words, or fewer. Occasionally additional marks—commas, em-dashes—enter the mix. But that’s pretty much how ...

It’s hard to believe the year we have had. Even harder that a punctuation mark could help explain it. But when you consider the history of the interrobang—a largely forgotten symbol that marries both ...

There is no SAT of garden design, no C- for an essay pounded out in the early hours of the morning before class. No one gets to edit the story of your garden. Except you. But first you've got to write ...