Interjection- Definition and Explanation
An interjection is a short expression of emotions. It is a part of speech. Interjections are usually of one or two words.
A word expressing an emotion or sudden feeling is called Interjection.
Interjections-
- can stand alone or are used at the beginning of the sentences.
- We use these words to express sudden feelings.
- We can use them to show surprise, anger, happiness, sadness or any other emotion.
An interjection is not grammatically related to the sentence in which it is used.
Use of Interjections
Interjections are rarely used in formal writing but always used in fiction or artistic writing.
We can use interjections to express-
- Strong emotion
- Weaker emotion
- Uncertainty or disbelief
Strong emotion
We can use an exclamation mark to express strong emotions.
Have a look-
- Ouch! She pinched!
- Hey! Stop threatening me!
- Wow! I scored ninety percent marks.
Weaker emotion
We can use comma or ellipses to express weaker emotions.
Have a look-
- Well, see you later.
- Oho, now I got what you meant.
- Alas, I would have reached before ten minutes.
- Man… you wore a pink raincoat.
Uncertainty or disbelief
The question mark is used to express uncertainty or disbelief.
Have a look-
- What? You didn’t prepare a speech yet?
- How can you leave this job?
- Eh? Say it again, I wasn’t listening.
Relation of interjection
An interjection is not related to the rest part of the sentence in which it is used. Other parts of speech have relations to some part of the sentence in which we used but interjection –
- does not relate with any word or part of the sentence
- it does not describe or modify anything in the sentence.
- It doesn’t play the role of subject or verb.
- They are not joined to any other part.
We know, the interjections are the words that show emotions. These are introductory words but don’t think that all introductory words with an exclamation mark or comma are interjections. Sometimes it is an adjective, verb, noun, or noun phrase. Let’s see.
Examples
Here are some examples with explanations.
Have a look-
- Great! Now you can draw a picture on oil paper using oil colours.
In the above sentence, the word ‘great’ is an adjective.
- Wait! Get into another compartment.
In the above sentence, ‘wait’ is a verb and it shows action. It’s a command. It is an imperative sentence. Though the sentence tells about urgency, the word ‘wait’ does not show emotion.
- Sameer! Listen to the story and write it in brief!
In the above sentence, Sameer is noun and nouns are not interjections because they name persons, things, or places. The word “Sameer” doesn’t show any emotion. Remember that an interjection is a word that expresses the emotions.
You may also like the related links given below-
• Noun
• Pronoun
• Verb
• Adverb