“Wow! So, beautiful!”
Interjections are words or short phrases that express strong emotions or sudden feelings. They’re like quick bursts of emotion that punctuate speech. They don’t have grammatical connections to the other words in a sentence, and they often stand alone. Basically, interjections are like emotional punctuation marks that add flavor and feeling to spoken and sometimes written English. They are a way to instantly and effectively express how you feel.
What they do
- Express emotions: Interjections convey a wide range of feelings, including:
- Disapproval: “Ugh!”
- Disgust: “Ew!” “Yuck!”
- Emphasis: “Indeed!”
- Excitement: “Hooray!”
- Greeting: “Hey!”
- Hesitation: “Um…” “Uh…”
- Joy: “Hurray!” “Yay!”
- Pain: “Ouch!”
- Surprise: “Wow!” “Oh!”
- Add emphasis: They can emphasize a statement or add a sense of immediacy.
- Create tone: They contribute to the overall tone and feeling of a conversation.
- Indicate reactions: They show immediate reactions to situations.
Examples
- “Indeed! That is a good point.”
- “Hey! What are you doing?”
- “Hurray! We won!”
- “Ouch! That hurt!”
- “Psst! Come here.”
- “Ugh! I’m so tired.”
- “Um, I’m not sure about that.”
- “Yikes! That was close.”
- “Wow! That’s amazing!”
Key characteristics
- Emotional expression: They primarily express emotions or feelings.
- Grammatically independent: They have no grammatical function in a sentence.
- Stand-alone: They often stand alone or are followed by an exclamation point.
- Vary in formality: Some interjections are very informal, while others are more formal.
