1. Full Stop/Period (.)

 

 

A full stop is a punctuation mark placed at the end of a sentence to indicate the end of the sentence, which can be a statement, request or command. A full stop is not used at the end of a phrase or subordinate clause.as they are not complete sentences. Doing so will create a sentence fragment. A full-stop is also used after most abbreviations and is placed within a quotation mark at the end of the quoted sentence.

 

No full-stop at end of phrase or subordinate clause.

Examples:

  • Incorrect: I could hear the pot bubbling. On the stove..

    (On the stove is a prepositional phrase. There should be no full-stop after a phrase.)

  • Correct: I could hear the pot bubbling on the stove.

  • Incorrect: When I saw her yesterday. She was wearing a flowery hat.

    (When I saw her yesterday is a subordinate clause. A full-stop should not be used to end it.)

  • Correct: When I saw her yesterday, she was wearing a flowery hat.

 

 
Full-stops and abbreviations
 

Examples:

The full-stop is used after most abbreviations.

  • Jr., Mr., Mrs., Ms., Dr., Rev., Sr., Wed., Oct.

Individual letters in an acronym do not require full-stops. The trend today is towards writing abbreviations without a full-stop.

  • IOU, FBI, NATO, UN, US, UK

Only one full-stop is used if a sentence ends with an abbreviation..

  • Her biggest ambition is to successfully complete her M.A.

Most short versions of specific expressions end in a full-stop.

  • A.M. / a.m., P.M. / p.m., p.a., e.g.

The full-stop is used to show the shortened form of a word.

  • Opp., mo. (Written abbreviations of opposite, month)

 

 

A full stop is always placed inside quotation marks, whether or not it is part of the quotation.

Examples:

  • No: John said, "That runaway horse is not mine". 
  • Yes: John said, "That runaway horse is not mine."