- Definition:
- An interjection is a word or group of words that expresses emotion. They can show happiness, surprise, anger, impatience, and many other emotions. They can also be used to get attention. Interjections do not have a grammatical purpose in the sentence. They are considered parenthetical and are set off with commas.
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yes no hello hi hey good-bye absolutely achoo ack agreed ah aha ahem ahh ahoy alas alright alrighty anyhow argh bah humbug beware blech bravo congratulations crud dang darn |
dear dear me drat duh eek eh enough er Eureka eww gee good grief gosh great groovy ha hmm holy macaroni hooray humph hush indeed mmmm my goodness my nah never no way nonsense oh |
oh, the horror oops ouch phew please rats shh shoot shucks snap stop sweet ugh uh uh-huh uh-oh um umm waa way to go well what whew whoa wow yay yikes yippee yuck yum |
As you can see, many interjections use onomatopoeia. Others are fad words. All of them are words we use that don't have any real meaning in the sentence.
Interjections are generally used at the beginnings of sentences, but they may come anywhere in the sentence.
At the beginning: Gee, that's not very nice.
At the end: You like that ice cream, huh?
In the middle: I found that, yes, I had forgotten my toothbrush.
Punctuating interjections
Interjections that express strong emotion are followed with an exclamation mark.
Oh no! I forgot to do my homework!
Mild interjections are set off from the sentence with a comma.
Rats, it's raining again.
Questioning interjections are followed by a question mark.
Huh? You want me to do what?
Occasionally an interjection might take a period, especially if it is at the end of the sentence.
Hey. What page are we on? (Note: Here hey is used to get attention before asking the question, so it isn't part of the question. It's not exclaimed, however, or the speaker might get in trouble.)
My sandwich is squished. Yuck.
- Hint:
- Interjections reflect the way we speak in informal situations. They are generally avoided when writing in formal or academic situations.