# Omitting a full stop at end of sentence in paragraphs



## stephenc

I seem to have got into the habit of omitting a full stop at the end of a sentence in paragraphs as in this sentence / paragraph

I’m not sure how this started but seems to have crept in. As in this sentence, I’ll always complete it with a full stop. But if a sentence is the end of a paragraph (like this one) I omit the full stop

It may be something I’ve picked up from language used on the web, I’m not sure but I’m wondering if it is acceptable or if anyone has seen this used like this before

Thanks, Stephen


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## Rover_KE

That's the easiest question to answer that we'll get today - if not this week. . . month. . .year. . .ever!

It's *not* acceptable.

Welcome to the forum, Stephen.


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## Egmont

Welcome to WRF!

As *Rover_KE* posted, it's not acceptable in prose. However, it's acceptable in bullet lists, such as those that are popular in PowerPoint presentations. Perhaps people get into the habit there and carry it over to normal writing.


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## wandle

In a bullet list, I would say:
-- it is still part of a sentence
-- the sense is continuous from the introductory line through to the last item, and
-- a full stop is still compulsory at the end.


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## stephenc

Rover_KE said:


> That's the easiest question to answer that we'll get today - if not this week. . . month. . .year. . .ever!


OK, ok I get the point! Thanks, but the next question is this, is this part of a style that I may have inadvertingly picked up without realising it?

It this style used anywhere (rightly or wrongly)?


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## pob14

I've never seen it.


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## neilrickards

For what it's worth, I've been doing the same for years.  I've no idea why, though I've always thought the full stop at the end of a paragraph to be a bit too punchy

I actually stumbled upon your post while trying to find if I'm the only one


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## DonnyB

I can't say I've come across this style anywhere, and I certainly wouldn't do it (or at least, not deliberately).

If you don't mind my saying so, Neil, your sentences do look a bit "unfinished" without full stops at the end.  

Welcome to the forum, by the way!


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## Hildy1

It is often used in newspaper or magazine headlines. Someone once told me that it looks "cleaner" without a period / full stop, but in my opinion, punctuation is not just decoration; it has a meaning. Therefore there should be a period. Period / full stop.


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## JustKate

Leaving it off on headlines and titles is fine. But otherwise, it's not optional. Periods belong at the end of sentences, and since paragraphs are made up of sentences, they get a full stop/period at the end, too. Readers should not be left hanging, wondering if something is missing.


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## reilhl

I too am a dot omitter!

You say it is unacceptable to omit a full stop at the end of a paragraph, however in this day and age of word processing, speed and efficiency, I see no worthy reason why it is essential

You can clearly see that a new paragraph has been started, as such the baseline dot becomes superfluous

What more is the full stop telling you [at the end of a paragraph] that you could not tell without it?

I try to keep my emails and writing as succinct as possible to the point that they almost become lists. I fire of an average of 117 emails per day so any information that isn't essential must go

Apart from it appearing strange to those not accustomed to it, please can you provide me a reason why it is essential or grammatically incorrect?

Many thanks

H.


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## Glenfarclas

reilhl said:


> Apart from it appearing strange to those not accustomed to it, please can you provide me a reason why it is essential or grammatically incorrect?



Ancient Latin didn't have any punctuation at all, or lower-case letters or even spaces between words.

WHYNOTJUSTGOAHEADANDWRITETHATWAYSINCEPEOPLEWILLUNDERSTANDYOUJUSTFINE


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## Loob




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## SwissPete

> WHYNOTJUSTGOAHEADANDWRITETHATWAYSINCEPEOPLEWILLUNDERSTANDYOUJUSTFINE



Sorry, what did you say?


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## QwikChek

Hi Everyone
Just reading this tread prompted me to add...  I write journals, books, do ghost writing, dissertations, company documents and so on for many people and companies around the world and I have never used a period / stop / full stop whatever after a sentence in 35 years of writing

I too agree that when a paragraph comes to its end, there is really no need for a stop.  A stop is used to end a sentence before the next one starts when you have multiple sentences within a single paragraph

I did some reading on this a number of years ago - can't find the reference quickly now - but apparently there was a (British originally?) ruling where a stop after a paragraph was warranted until 1973/4 which then changed to "no stop after paragraph" that was promoted up until 1976 where no-one could handle this confusion any longer.  Thereafter it was the choice of the writer

Then there is the interpretations of American vs. British writing.  The Americans still adhere to the original where you use a stop to end a paragraph

I say it is superfluous.  Unwanted.  "Dirty".  Spoils the content....

I know I am not alone... and us "non-users-of-stops-to-end-a-paragraph" just smile at those who still do....

just some humour....... or humor for the guys THAT side of the planet


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## JustKate

I say it helps the reader, and if it helps the reader, it should be used. I mean, jeez, it's just one teensy little dot. How "dirty" can it be? How much content can it "spoil"?

Of course, it's also true that many times, the meaning is clear to most people without it. But if it's that clear, they won't notice if there's a full stop or not. Its presence *or* absence won't affect them one way or another. So again, if most people don't even notice it, how "dirty" can it be? How much content can it spoil?

It's just a little, tiny service to the reader - a way of saying "This particular thought is ending now." If it helps just one reader in 10 or helps just one paragraph in 10, why not use it?


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## JulianStuart

Now, if our full stops were big, that argument might carry some weight•  You could then say they were obtrusive•  The full stop is the smallest mark we can put on the page•  As Glen suggested, we could also do away with those spaces that intrude between words if we were too lazy to type the full stop• 

I'm OK with a little rebellion here and there, but it needs to be for a worthwhile cause


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## JustKate

JulianStuart said:


> Now, if our full stops were big, that argument might carry some weight•  You could then say they were obtrusive•  The full stop is the smallest mark we can put on the page•  As Glen suggested, we could also do away with those spaces that intrude between words if we were too lazy to type the full stop•
> 
> I'm OK with a little rebellion here and there, but it needs to be for a worthwhile cause


You put these things so well.


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## PaulQ

QwikChek said:


> Hi Everyone
> Just reading this tread prompted me to add...  I write journals, books, do ghost writing, dissertations, company documents and so on for many people and companies around the world and I have never used a period / stop / full stop whatever after a sentence in 35 years of writing


I have spoken with Mike Kellogg, owner of WRF, and he has arranged for an air-drop of 3 tonnes of full-stops. I have spoken with the manufacturers and most of the full-stops are OK to use as periods or in colons or as spares for semi-colons, exclamation and question marks.  There is a conversion kit available for decimal points at extra cost.


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## sdgraham

There are always rebels in languages, but if we follow the "because it's not necessary" argument, we could do away with full stops after initialisms and abbreviations, not to mention ignoring capitalization, since case-less writing is just as understandable as that which uses cases (otherwise the telegram and teletype would not have been successful.

If we wander down this tortuous and misdirected path, we can also argue for not wasting time with spelling and grammar since "çause as wee all no, it don't matter nuthin' if everbody kin unnerstan wots ritten."


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## Hermione Golightly

lts mss t ll th vwls whl wr bt t slss wst f spc nd nrgy nt t mntn prcs tm


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## JulianStuart

sdgraham said:


> There are always rebels in languages, but if we follow the "because it's not necessary" argument, we could do away with full stops after initialisms and abbreviations, not to mention ignoring capitalization, since case-less writing is just as understandable as that which uses cases (otherwise the telegram and teletype would not have been successful.
> 
> If we wander down this tortuous and misdirected path, we can also argue for not wasting time with spelling and grammar since "çause as wee all no, it don't matter nuthin' if everbody kin unnerstan wots ritten."


Finally a topic where I can voice a little frustration over the increasing British approach of dropping the full stops at the end of abbreviations, acronyms and initialisms as well as using lower case for everything except the first letter in acronyms. Examples might be Nasa and Aids which just look weird but are still understandable, but Ofcom and Oftel were unfamiliar - perhaps it's more common on the BBC news website but /rant


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## Loob

Hermione Golightly said:


> lts mss t ll th vwls whl wr bt t slss wst f spc nd nrgy nt t mntn prcs tm


Gd d, Hrmn

_[crss-pstd]_


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## JulianStuart

Hermione Golightly said:


> lts mss t ll th vwls whl wr bt t slss wst f spc nd nrgy nt t mntn prcs tm


_ thght y hd msplld "mt" s th scnd wrd but _ rlz t ws _ dffrnt phrs ("mss t") tht mns th sm thng•


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## Hermione Golightly

rght thr y g


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## Cenzontle

> You say it is unacceptable to omit a full stop at the end of a paragraph, however in this day and age of word processing, speed and efficiency, I see no worthy reason why it is essential


Precisely because we are word-processing—and the machine can swallow some of our words without provocation—it is essential to put the final dot
to say "Having the paragraph end here was my intention, I the author, not a computer glitch."


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## PaulQ

Periods are important:


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## Sparky Malarky

I sometimes omit the period at the end of a paragraph.  I do it because I'm writing on a tablet or smartphone, and I get lazy.  The editor will put the period in for me after I hit the space bar twice, but at the end of what I'm saying, I forget to bother and just hit send.  Like this


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## Keith Bradford

I once heard: _Spelling is merely convention; punctuation is the essence of thought itself_.  You're not getting *me* onto that bandwagon.  I want you to know when my sentences end, and if you want me to understand you, you'll do the same.


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## bennymix

I would not do this, since the reader may think there was an interruption--that
the sentence continued. "I want a dog, but not like this [one, a huge Bernese]."
(last words failed to transmit).




Sparky Malarky said:


> I sometimes omit the period at the end of a paragraph.  I do it because I'm writing on a tablet or smartphone, and I get lazy.  The editor will put the period in for me after I hit the space bar twice, but at the end of what I'm saying, I forget to bother and just hit send.  Like this


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## RM1(SS)

Cenzontle said:


> Precisely because we are word-processing—and the machine can swallow some of our words without provocation—it is essential to put the final dot
> to say "Having the paragraph end here was my intention, I the author, not a computer glitch."




And I'm not going to have a very high opinion of someone I don't know who sends me an email with the ends of sentences left off.


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## AvalancheBoy

I started omitting paragraph full stops years ago and I can't go back now, it just seems right. A full stop at the end of a paragraph is so unnecessary, the end of the paragraph is the full stop


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## grassy

AvalancheBoy said:


> I started omitting paragraph full stops years ago and I can't go back now, it just seems right. A full stop at the end of a paragraph is so unnecessary, the end of the paragraph is the full stop


Well, you seem to be in the minority. Almost everyone here considers the practice unacceptable.


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## Aguas Claras

Definitely unacceptable to me. However, when I do translation work, I don't like putting full stops after every point on a bullet list (unless it's a full sentence, of course).  I think it looks cluttered but I see a lot of people do it.


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## heypresto

AvalancheBoy said:


> I started omitting paragraph full stops years ago and I can't go back now, it just seems right. A full stop at the end of a paragraph is so unnecessary, the end of the paragraph is the full stop


Is the lack of a full stop at the end of this an example of what you are talking about, or simply a slip?


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## Keith Bradford

It's a slip!  Stephenc meant to continue the paragraph, but hit the "send" button by mistake.

How do I know that?  It's obvious, there's no full stop at the end.  That's what full stops are for.


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## Aguas Claras

heypresto said:


> Is the lack of a full stop at the end of this an example of what you are talking about, or simply a slip?


I think it's intentional. He's saying that the end of the paragraph is, in itself, (equivalent to) the full stop! (and, therefore, the full stop isn't necessary). That, at least, is how I read it!


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## Roxxxannne

A) *The problem with omitting the period/full stop at the end of a paragraph is that the reader doesn't know whether it's really the end *

B)* The problem with omitting the period/full stop at the end of a paragraph is that the reader doesn't know whether it's really the end *of the paragraph or if some words have been left out, as often happens when people are cutting and pasting witlessly without bothering to look to see if they really pasted everything they wanted to paste by reading through to the end.


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## heypresto

And what happens when the last sentence in a paragraph is a question

Or an exclamation

(Or a parenthetical afterthought


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## JulianStuart

grassy said:


> Well, you seem to be in the minority. Almost everyone here considers the practice unacceptable.


 
Adding the full stop is a convention.  Breaking it would be similar in magnitude to saying "i can't be bothered to capitalize i every time i write it, so i'll start my own convention and see if it catches on"


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## LVRBC

AvalancheBoy said:


> I started omitting paragraph full stops years ago and I can't go back now, it just seems right. A full stop at the end of a paragraph is so unnecessary, the end of the paragraph is the full stop


You can do what you want, but it's inappropriate to advise people in this forum, many of whom are English learners, to commit errors.


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## CaptainZero

From this article: "A growing number of millennials and Gen Z have taken particular issue with people finishing their text messages with full stops because they are perceived as an 'act of muted aggression'”.

Incredible. Presumably these people would have a cardiac arrest if anyone actually frowned at them.


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## Roxxxannne

I don't find the absence of full stops/periods in text messages all that horrible. Texting is a much different form of communication from anything else, with its abbreviations like dk, jk, bc, /s and so on, to say nothing of emojis.  If you're used to not adding a period, when some does add one it does look as though they're saying "blah blah blah. Period." which can be slightly hostile in the US at least.

And I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have a cardiac arrest if they were frowned at.  I do it a lot and it seems to have no effect.  😀


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## CaptainZero

Roxxxannne said:


> I don't find the absence of full stops/periods in text messages all that horrible.


Neither do I, and I often leave them out of text messages myself. It's the "act of muted aggression"  bit there, that leaves me incredulous.


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## bennymix

As I've already argued, the possibilities are so many with a simple break off (supposedly at the end of a para--how is that known?).    The person was interrupted; the person hit 'send' inadvertently.   The transmission was interrupted.   As mentioned above, there may be editorial glitches, 'cut and paste' glitches, etc.

I concede that where there are multiple, carefully constructed paragraphs, all the full stops [ending paragraphs] _before the last _can be inferred.   But as other posters above have pointed out.  Vowels can be inferred; omit them?  The last letters of many words can be inferred, so why not writ:  "Here is som informat tha yo requeste"?


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## billfalls

A period (UK: full stop) at the end of a declarative sentence is not optional, EXCEPT...

It has long been common practice in electronic communication to omit the period if the sentence ends with a URL or email address that is not hyperlinked. This spares the user the problem of inadvertently including the period when they copy it. When they paste it to open a web page or send an email they get an error message, and less experienced or visually impaired users may not see the tiny evidence of their error.


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