The British government thinks kids these days are overusing exclamation marks, and they’ve decided to take a stand! According to Mashable, the Department of Education has added new grammar guidelines to the state exams that seven-year-old students will be taking this summer, which specifically stipulate the appropriate uses for exclamation marks.
In order to crack down on what they see as the misuse of the punctuation on social media, the Department of Education has told educators to deduct points for exclamation marks used outside of two specific scenarios: Sentences which begin with “What” or “How.” For instance, “What a lovely day!” is appropriate, while any variation on that sentiment— as in, “It’s a lovely day!” —will now be marked incorrect.
There’s already been some backlash and critics have accused the Department of stifling children’s creativity.
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