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Lecture 17 - Interjections
Interjections usually express sudden feelings; you’ll often see them used to convey surprise (both

good surprises and bad ones) or excitement.

You can use an interjection before or after a sentence that explains what’s going on. You can also

use an interjection alone, although it may not make sense if you haven’t adequately described the

situation that caused you to use the interjection.

m
Interjections often use exclamation points, but they don’t necessarily have to.
Yikes! There’s a snake in the basement.
Ouch! That bee just stung me.

i
It’s possible to use an interjection within a sentence. When you do, treat the interjection as a

sh
parenthetical element that’s separate from the rest of the sentence.
The project was delayed because the logistics team made a few (ahem) miscalculations.
You can also set it off with commas.
Ha
I may not succeed, but, hey, at least I tried.
The important thing to remember is that the interjection should be set off somehow. Don’t just

drop it in with nothing to mark it as separate from the rest of the sentence.

Interjections are fine to use in casual and informal writing. It’s okay to use them in speech, too.
m

But avoid using interjections in formal writing because it may appear that you’re not treating the

topic seriously.
ya
ar
M

Compiled by Maryam Hashim