B9.3 Exclamatives
Exclamatives are said to be sentences expressing a strong emotion: exclamations, in
other words. In writing they are usually signalled by an exclamation mark.
What a nice day it is!
How quickly they reacted!
They may start with either what or how; in both cases a clause element is fronted (see
A11). In the first example a noun phrase containing what (a predicative in this case)
has been fronted (It is such a nice day), and in the second an adverb phrase (function-
ing as an adverbial) (They reacted very quickly).
Exclamatives are rarer than the other clause types, and a negative is not possible:
‘What a nice day it isn’t!’ They are also found in minor sentences: What a fool!
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