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What is the accepted use of exclamation point in greeting on a letter or email, "Hi! Kim," or "Hi, Kim!"

Minda Galang
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  • The latter is correct. – Jake Regier Jul 23 '15 at 19:05
  • Here's what Lewis Thomas said about exclamation points: "Exclamation points are the most irritating of all. Look! they say, look at what I just said! How amazing is my thought! It is like being forced to watch someone else's small child jumping up and down crazily in the center of the living room shouting to attract attention. If a sentence really has something of importance to say, something quite remarkable, it doesn't need a mark to point it out. And if it is really, after all, a banal sentence needing more zing, the exclamation point simply emphasizes its banality!" – John Lawler Jul 23 '15 at 19:06
  • From "Notes on Punctuation". – John Lawler Jul 23 '15 at 19:07
  • No wonder people hate comic strips—many of them (comic strips) regularly use exclamation points in place of periods. – Sven Yargs Jul 23 '15 at 20:01
  • You know, in a greeting in an email or personal letter you can do it however you want. No one will come and arrest you if you use the first form. Use what "feels good", given the context. – Hot Licks Jul 23 '15 at 22:26
  • I think exclamation point is mandatory in greetings. If someone is uncomfortable with writing "Hi, Kim!" just because he doesn't like the exclamation point, he should also be uncomfortable with the "hi" word itself and write simply "Kim, ...". – Leonardo Castro Sep 08 '16 at 17:12

1 Answers1

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Definitely the latter. The rule is that the exclamation mark is used to end a sentence.

Exclamation mark (!)

The main use of the exclamation mark is to end sentences that express:

•an exclamation:

Ow! That hurt!

Hello! How are you?

•direct speech that represents something shouted or spoken very loudly:

‘Look up there!’ she yelled.

...

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/words/exclamation-mark

In the sense mentioned above,

"Hi!" is a complete sentence.

"Hi! Kim!" consists of two separate sentences. We can guess that they are spoken with a perceptible gap between them.

"Hi, Kim!" Is a single sentence.

Community
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chasly - supports Monica
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    So (just for completeness) "Hi! Kim," might be used if it's intended to be an exclamation "Hi!" followed by a introductory "Kim, ..." which leads into the main text. I don't see any practical use for that, though, because the greeting "Hi!" is general and if you're talking to Kim then the greeting would be "Hi, Kim". – Andrew Leach Jul 23 '15 at 19:37
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    Here's a practical use: "Hi! Kim, the new intern, should be fired. Thanks! Jim." – Jake Regier Jul 23 '15 at 19:41
  • @JakeRegier - nice example. – chasly - supports Monica Jul 23 '15 at 20:11