An interjection expresses surprise, anger, pleasure, or some other emotion or feeling: O or Oh, Ah, Hallo, Ha, Aha, Hey, Alas, Bravo,…

Eg: “Oh, yes”, I replied. “I know him well.”

“Hey”, she said with a smile, “you want my help?”

Among interjections are included imitations of sounds (onomatopoeic words) such as: mew, cock-a-doodle-doo, swish, etc. These words do not name the sounds produced by animals or things but imitate them:

Eg: Bang, bang, went a couple of guns in the distance.

Toot-tootle-too, goes the factory horn.

Cock-a-doodle-doo, Cock-a-doodle-doo, the rooster called the sun to get up.

Interjections usually have no grammatical connection with the sentence in which they stand. Hence, they are classed among the “independent element” of a sentence or are treated as an exclamatory phrase. Sometimes, however, a noun is connected with an interjection by means of preposition:

Eg: Alas for my good hope!

Bravo for their good performance.

Sometimes, other parts of speech and even elliptical sentences are used as interjections; in these cases, they lose their notional meanings and serve to express only some emotion or feeling: Help! Silence! Come, come! Dear me! Hear! Look! Why! Well! I say! All right!

Eg: Dear, dear, what changes!

Come, come, Mary, let’s hope for the best!

Why, what do you say?

Well, I’m very glad to hear that.