Primary school pupils will only get credit for using exclamation¹ marks in sentences beginning with 'what' or 'how', under strict new Government rules.

 

根据英国政府的新规定，遇到以“What”和“How”开头的句子，小学生们必须在句尾使用“感叹号”才会得分。

 

Ministers have been accused of "taking writing back to the 19th century" after issuing the restrictive new guidance over what counts as an "exclamation".

 

"For the purposes of the English grammar, punctuation² and spelling test, an exclamation is required to start with What or How," the guidance for Key Stage 1 and 2 national curriculum tests states.

 

Children are expected to be able to recognise and write examples of exclamation sentences, and will not get any credit for using exclamation marks in other ways, examiners have been told.

 

The guidance suggests "What a lovely day!" or "How exciting!" as acceptable examples.

 

"A sentence that ends in an exclamation mark, but which does not have one of the grammatical patterns shown above, is not considered to be creditworthy as an exclamation (e.g. exclamatory statements, exclamatory imperatives³, exclamatory interrogatives or interjections)," it says.

 

A source at the Department for Education denied the move was intended to curb⁴ the proliferation of the exclamation mark in text messages and social media.

 

The curriculum also acknowledges that an exclamation mark can be used in other ways such as to give emphasis to a statement or command. A source said: "We’re not telling pupils to not use exclamation marks. The guidance is on what marks can and can’t be awarded in these tests.”

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