The period is the equivalent of a grammatical stop sign—it tells you to hit the visual brake as you read. In fact, in British usage it is referred to as a full stop.
When you see it at the end of a sentence, it clearly denotes The End, as in “And they lived happily ever after.”
It appears at the end of two types of sentences—declarative, or sentences that make statements, and imperative, or sentences that give orders or make requests, as in “Please read this blog article in its entirety.” You might also see a period at the end of a rhetorical question, as in “Why don’t you learn to use the period correctly.”
Do you wonder where the term “dot-com” comes from? It refers to the periods that separate portions of URLs and E-mail addresses, such as www.keenreader.com and first.last@keenreader.com, where they are referred to as “dots” due to their shape. In American English, periods also appear as decimal points in numbers, as in 98.6, and after many abbreviations, such as Mr., Mrs., Dr., Ms., Rep., Sen., Gov., and Pres., as well as in outlines or other lists of letters or numbers used as enumerations such as: “A.B.C.” and “1. 2. 3.”
When not to use a period: According to the Associated Press, an authoritative reference on the published English language, they don’t appear in well-known groups of initials, such as JFK, LBJ, FDR, US, UK, FBI, CIA, and other acronyms, while the Chicago Manual of Style, another authoritative reference, recommends leaving them out of display lines and running heads (chapter titles, subheads, and similar headings), column heads in tables, captions, datelines in correspondence, signatures, or addresses. Also, in British and Commonwealth English, periods generally don’t appear abbreviations, as in Mr, Mrs, Dr, and so on, and commas replace periods as decimal points.
“This is the start of a new paragraph. Notice how there is a space or two after the period in the preceding sentence.” When used in a quote or with brackets or parentheses, the closing quotation mark, bracket, or parenthesis should follow the period. Exception: If the enclosed text is a complete independent declarative or imperative sentence, as in “(The quick brown fox jumped over the lazy dogs.)”
Also, be sure to put a space after the period or closing quotation mark, bracket, or parenthesis. The space provides visual contrast, so readers can more easily follow the text and understand what you’re saying. For example: “The following text is poorly edited.This text is without a space between periods. There is no space in this quote after the closing quotation mark.”as opposed to “Inserting spaces between sentences is a sign of good editing. This text has a space after the closing quotation mark to make it easier to read.” Notice which text is easier on your eyes and mind?
Periods are also used in ellipses, which are omissions from the given text, such as “She said…and moved away,” and in suspensions or interruptions, such as “Keep reading…to the end of this sentence.” Periods used in ellipses, suspensions, or interruptions always appear together, on the same line, in groups of three at the beginning and before the end of a sentence or fragment, and in groups of four at the end of a sentence or fragment. Punctuation for a sentence or thought preceding an ellipsis, suspension, or interruption must appear before the ellipsis, as in “She ended the blog and prepared for a new one....”
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