How to use Full Stops

1. The full stop [.] (sometimes called the period) is a punctuation mark indicating a strong pause.

2. It is used most commonly at the end of a complete sentence - like this one.

This is a short sentence. This is another.

It happened suddenly in 1996.

There are two reasons for this (in my opinion).

3. The only common exception to this rule occurs when the sentence is a question or an exclamation.

Is this question really necessary?

What a mess!

4. The stop is also used following abbreviations:

ibid.     No. 1     ff.     e.g.

5. The stop is not necessary following common titles which are shortened forms of a word (technically, contractions):

Dr     Mr     St     Mme

6. Full stops are not necessary after the initial capital letters commonly used as abbreviations for the titles of organisations and countries:

NATO     BBC     UNESCO     USA

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7. They are not used where the initial letters of a standard work of reference is used as an abbreviated title:

OED [Oxford English Dictionary]

DNB [Dictionary of National Biography]

PMLA [Papers of the Modern Languages Association]

8. No full stop is required if a sentence ends with a title or an abbreviation which contains its own punctuation:

He is the editor of Which?

She gave her address as 'The Manor, Wilts.'

9. Full stops should not be used after titles, headings, or sub-headings.

The Turn of the Screw

Industrial Policy Report

Introduction

10. The stop is normally placed inside quotation marks but outside a parenthesis:

"What joy we had that particular day."

Profits declined (despite increased sales).

11. However, if the quotation is part of another statement, the full stop goes outside the quote marks:

Mrs Higginbottam whispered "They're coming".

12. If the parenthesis is a complete sentence, the full stop stays inside the brackets:

There was an earthquake in Osaka. (Another had occurred in Tokyo the year previously.)