Jump to content
Linguaholic

Ending A Sentence w/ an Abbreviation


Alfonso

Recommended Posts

When ending a sentence with an abbreviation or acronym, like F.B.I., U.S.A., Ph.d., Sr., Jr., etc, what would be the correct way to write it? For example,

John works for the F.B.I..  or John works for the F.B.I.

I guess my question is, if your sentence ends with an abbreviation or acronym that would normally have a period in the end of it, do you write the sentence with two periods or disregard the period in the end of the abbreviation or acronym?

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Study With Us on Discord for FREE!

I don't think you need that second period. I publish online all of the time and our rule book says not to. I also have never seen anything published with two periods. I think it is assumed the sentence ends afterward.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

When ending a sentence with an abbreviation or acronym, like F.B.I., U.S.A., Ph.d., Sr., Jr., etc, what would be the correct way to write it? For example,

John works for the F.B.I..  or John works for the F.B.I.

I guess my question is, if your sentence ends with an abbreviation or acronym that would normally have a period in the end of it, do you write the sentence with two periods or disregard the period in the end of the abbreviation or acronym?

The second period is not needed; it would be incorrect to add a second period.  The period at the end of the sentence suffices.

If you have a sentence ending with a question mark or an exclamation mark you would then need to use the period with the abbreviation. 

Thus with your example, it would be "Does John works for the F.B.I.?" or "John works for the F.B.I.!"

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...