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Use of the Period in English Punctuation (.) - Part 2

Part 1

Prepare to Use the Period

Congratulations ! You have reached the right place to know more about the use of the period (or full stop) in English writing. This article will look at the basic ways in which you can use the period as a punctuation mark in your writing. For accurate proofreading of period use and other punctuation or grammar rules, the artificial intelligence of the WhiteSmoke online English writing and grammar software will give you perfect results every time. Even the best writers use an English editor to make their work shine.

Enjoy your reading and start using those periods correctly.

Getting into the Period

Does the following story look familiar? Try reading it at a steady fast pace.

"As I was rushing out of the house to get to work I suddenly realized I had forgotten my car keys behind I went back in and started looking for them all over the house I couldn't find them anywhere so I was stuck I thought about what to do and decided to get a taxi but there was no one in sight As I was beginning to be late I started running..."

If by now you are hyperventilating due to lack of air, you have probably realized that something in the text is missing – punctuation marks to tell us when to take a pause in our reading and separate between ideas and stages in the story. One of these punctuation marks is the humble period.

The Period - What is it?

The period (or full stop) is an important punctuation mark in English that actually has three different uses: ending a sentence, indicating abbreviations, and other stylistic uses. This article focuses on the primary use of the period: ending a sentence. See our accompanying article on the period for its other uses

Recent research and feedback from writing teachers have shown that for some reason English writers are using the period less and less, using commas instead. Misuse of periods and commas may lead your reader to misunderstand your writing, making it important to review the uses of the period.

The 3 uses of the period are:

1. Ending a Sentence
Yesterday I wrote a letter to a friend.

2.Indicating Abbreviations
In the U.K. people work Mon. to Fri.

3.Other Uses of the Period
Graph 7. Results show a 4.5 % increase.

Using the Period to Indicate Abbreviations

Check this out !
Ms. Rosa S. Wallace, who works with Dr. Lewis for NBC in N.Y.C., met with Professor C. F. Richards from the University of Cal. In L.A. yesterday on Fth Ave. at 10:30 A.M.

In the above example sentence there are many words which have been shortened to abbreviations in a number of ways. The following rules will tell you whether or not a period is needed with different types of common abbreviations.

If you want to know more, read the punctuation rules for indicating abbreviations below.
If you are ready to read about other uses of the period, click here for the index.

The Punctuation Rules for Indicating Abbreviations

Word abbreviations are shortened versions of the original for purposes of efficiency. There are two kinds of abbreviations:

1. Abbreviations for multiple words phrases. These are made up of the first or few first letters of each word in the original phrase. They can be pronounced as:

-A series of the individual letters
NBC, KGB, IBM, LSD, TM, U.K.

-an acronym, in which the letters are pronounced as one word.
UNICEF, NATO, ANOVA

2. Abbreviations for single words. Usually pronounced as one word and can consist of:

-the first few letters of a word
Avenue - Ave., January - Jan.

-the first and last letter of a word
Mister - Mr., foot - ft.

-any combination of letters
Boulevard - Blvd., Route - Rte.

-the first letter of the word
Fahrenheit F, University - U.

-letters not in the original word
number - no., pound - lb., ounce - oz.

3. Always use periods in people's names.
C.S. Lewis (the author of Alice in Wonderland)
Franklin D. Roosevelt (former U.S.A. president)

4. Use periods with titles and honorifics.
Mr. Magoo
Mrs. Smith (for a married woman)
Dr. Seuss
Main St. (street)
Mount St. Helen (saint)
William Park, Esq.
WhiteSmoke, Inc. (incorporated)
Sam Davis, Sr. (senior - the father)
Sam Davis, Jr. (junior- the son)

Note: Use Miss (an old-fashioned title for an unmarried woman or for referring to young women or waitresses) without a period. Miss. with a period stands for Mississippi.
Miss America comes from Miss.

Use Ms. (a modern title for women used regardless of their marital status) with or without a period.
Ms. Smith or Ms Smith

Note: The period is optional for academic degrees. Whatever you choose, remember to be consistent.
M.D. or MD (Doctor of Medicine)
B.A. or BA (Bachelor of Arts)

5. Use of the period in geographical names is optional. Whatever you choose, remember to be consistent.
U.S.A. or USA
U.K. or UK
N.Y.C or NYC

Note: For American states and Canadian provinces use periods only for the shortened form and not for the two-letter postal abbreviation. For two-word names, only one abbreviated form applies, in which the period is optional.
CT Conn. Connecticut
WA Wash. Washington
N.S. NS Nova Scotia

6. Use of periods in time indicators is optional. Whatever you choose, remember to be consistent.
A.M. or AM
B.C. or BC
A.D. or AD

Note: written in lower case, a.m. is used with periods, not to be confused with "am"

7. Do not use periods in metric measurements
200 km
180 cm
48m2

8. Do not usually use periods in abbreviations for company and organization names, unless convention requires it.
NATO
IBM
CBS

9. Pay attention to the use of the period in Latin abbreviations.
e.g. - exempli gratia (meaning for example)
i.e. - id est (meaning that is)
et al. - et alia. (meaning and others)

*Watch out !
Use a period for abbreviations which do not fall into any of the above mentioned categories.
For example:
anonymous anon.
continued cont.
editor Ed.

Other Uses of the Period

1. Use the period to set off list numbers in numbered vertical lists. You can also used closing parenthesis.
ingredients for a salad:
1. cherry tomatoes.
2. mini cucumbers.
3. olive oil and vinegar.

or

ingredients for a salad
1) cherry tomatoes
2) mini cucumbers
3) olive oil and vinegar

2. Use the period to set off headings, subheadings and in figure or table captions and identifiers.
The period. The period has the following uses
Table 8. Summary of the Uses of the Period

3. Use a period for the decimal point in English (a comma is used in other parts of the world).
There is a 46.6 % increase in sales and 5.8% decline in customer complaints.

The Period: Summing it Up

As our brief article shows, the "humble" period, has a range of punctuation uses. A good understanding of when and how to use the apostrophe is vital to writing quality English in a range of contexts. While we cannot all be expected to know the rules of English grammar, tools like WhiteSmoke English Writing Software can ensure that our use of the period and other punctuation marks is always correct. With WhiteSmoke technology checking your grammar, punctuation and spelling, your writing will always be perfect.

If you haven't already read part 1 of our review of the period, go there now to read about using the period in sentences.