Quick Rule:  Exclamation Points

You do not use exclamation points in formal writing.  First, they indicate bias.  But mostly, if your words are not doing the exclaiming on their own, then punctuation is probably not going to help.  It’s a bit like putting “lol” after something that you think is funny.  If it’s not funny, that’s probably not going to help.  And wouldn’t you hate for your initials to be “LOL”?

Word of the Every So Often

importune:  (verb)  to just keep asking and asking and asking when you know already that the answer is “No” and it’s always going to be “No.”  He importuned her for a date, but she considered him rather smarmy, and wished instead that he would step in front of a bus.