CHAPTER 4 Punctuation: End Marks and Commas^91
Period
The period is used to indicate a complete pause in thought.
RULES FOR USING A PERIOD
- End a sentence with a period.
Correct punctuation promotes comprehension. - Put a period after abbreviations.
Jan. 1st, Mr. Letterman, A.M., 97 Main St., e.g. - Place a period inside quotation marks.
Mack said, “I’ll be back at 9 P.M. to pick you up.” - Do not end a sentence with a period if it already ends with another end
mark such as an exclamation point or question mark.
Will you leave for training soon? - Do not use a period at the end of a sentence that is enclosed in parentheses
and embedded in another sentence.
When the trainee heard that she was accepted into the program (she
had harbored no hope at all), she was very excited. - Use a period at the end of a sentence that is enclosed in parentheses but
stands alone.
When the trainee heard that she was accepted into the program, she
was very excited. (She had harbored no hope at all.) - Use only one period at the end of a sentence when the sentence ends in an
abbreviation.
After school, I’m going to work for All Things Computer, Inc.
NOTE: Some widely known acronyms (short forms of names or organizations) do
not require periods:
NBC, UNICEF, NFL, YWCA, CIA, FBI