The full stop is the small dot that appears at the end of a sentence written in certain scripts such as the Roman alphabet, which is used for the majority of Western languages. Likenesses of a full stop, also called a ‘period’ in US English, are the point, the decimal point and the ellipsis. All these are discussed in this post, its UK usage, and some examples of how its uses differ around the world.
The history and evolution of the full stop in the United Kingdom
When the medieval scribes of England first wrote early manuscripts there was no punctuation and texts flowed without clear breaks. But, by around the 7th century AD some simple characters such as slashes and dots began to be routinely added to prevent reader misunderstandings, and they were especially important for texts that were written to be read aloud before the people. So, the full stop serves as a visual cue to guide readers and punctuate the rhythm of the written word; at this stage, the full stop could appear randomly and have a variety of purposes.
During the Middle English period (the 11th to 15th centuries), the English language evolved immensely and, as more punctuation marks were added for a variety of uses, manuscripts began to feature more consistent usage of the full stop, often placed at the end of sentences or clauses to signal a pause. However, at this stage punctuation was largely experimental and its usage was not standardised across different scribes and regions because these writers had been raised with different dialects and accents, often quite isolated from other areas, which led to variations in punctuation practices, as it did differences in the spellings and even meanings of certain words.
The introduction of the printing press to Britain, by William Caxton in 1476, caused the language to become standardised, and with it punctuation. With the mass production of books, the need for rules in punctuation in writing became evident. Printers started adopting a systematic approach to punctuation, unknown until that time, and the full stop found a more defined role at the end of sentences.
These punctuation rules began to be systematised even more in the 16th and 17th centuries by grammarians and scholars, as writers such as Ben Jonson advocated for clearer punctuation rules in their works. The simplicity of the full stop made it the first choice for the most important role of dividing sentences, or units of sense: a symbol of grammatical completeness.
The subsequent Enlightenment period brought about a renewed focus on clarity and reason in writing, with influential grammarians such as Robert Lowth emphasising the importance of punctuation in aiding comprehension. Again, punctuation rules were examined and became yet more regulated. With the increase in literacy and the rise of novels in the Romance period and the Victorian era, writers themselves paid meticulous attention to punctuation and it became a tool for expression and style. The full stop began to be used not only to mark the ends of sentences but also to create rhythm and emphasis.
While some characters of punctuation have changed and continue to amend their uses over the last centuries, the full stop has continued to play its singular clear and crucial role in delineating sentences. Today, the full stop is a fundamental element of written communication in the English language, and it reflects the enduring importance of precision in conveying meaning through the written word.
Usage of the full stop in UK English punctuation
A full stop signifies the end of a sentence. For more on sentences, please see this post on sentence types. Simply put, a sentence is a unit of thought and the purpose of a full stop is to bring closure to that thought, allowing the reader to pause and absorb the information presented before a new thought is introduced in the form of a subsequent sentence, clearly signified by a capital letter. Full stops ensure a smooth and organised reading experience. Of course, sentences are then arranged into paragraphs (as in this article) which group together sentences that share a theme or idea and also help guide a reader through the subject matter. Full stops are also complemented by other punctuation marks that clarify meaning within a sentence, such as the comma, which is detailed here.
Where to place the full stop
The primary function of a full stop is to mark the end of a declarative or imperative sentence:
- She loves to read books.
- Please send me the report.
However, a full stop, usually called a point, is also used in abbreviations to indicate omitted letters:
- Cont. from previous page.
If it were not for the point in the example sentence above, a reader may not know that this word is an abbreviation for the word ‘continued’.
In the United States, it is common to use a point for some abbreviations such as
- Dr. for Doctor
- Ave. for Avenue
But, this is outmoded in UK English, as is the use of a point in an acronym such as UK (U.K.)
For more on acronyms and abbreviations, please read this post.
Additional uses
An ellipsis (…) is three dots in close succession that are used to indicate a trailing off or an incomplete thought. If an ellipsis ends a sentence, a full stop is not required:
- She gazed into the horizon, lost in thought…
- …not realising she was being watched.
There should be no space between the ellipsis and the words it leads to or from.
In numerical expressions, a point is used to separate the whole number from the decimal fraction:
- The temperature rose by 2.5 degrees.
Question marks and exclamation marks
Not all sentences end with a full stop. If a question mark is used to indicate a question… :
- Where are we going?
…or an exclamation mark is used to indicate an exclamation:
- Wow!
…there is no need to add a full stop. So, a full stop is not the only punctuation mark that can end a sentence and one must choose the most appropriate character to the sentence type. For more on question structure, please visit this page.
For more on sentence structure and composition, please read this post.
While some languages employ an additional space after a full stop, this is not customary in UK English. Maintain a seamless flow between the full stop and the next word, as demonstrated throughout this article.
The full stop across writing systems: a global perspective
While the full stop, or period as it is known in the United States, is a familiar punctuation mark in languages using the Roman alphabet, unlike many punctuation marks, whose usages vary greatly between all the world’s languages, its use transcends linguistic boundaries. Likewise, the decimal point used in the UK, the US and Australia to represent price:
- £3.20
- $4.50
…is displayed with a comma in many European countries:
- €3,60
And, interestingly numbers such as one thousand: 1,000
… are written with a point: 1.000
As a mark for the end of a sentence, in the Greek, Korean and Russian (Cyrillic script), a full stop like that of the Roman alphabet is applied in a manner similar to English. However, many world scripts have their own versions of a full stop:
In Arabic, a language written from right to left, the full stop has an equivalent called the “فتحة” (fatḥah) or “نقطة” (nuqṭah). It serves a similar purpose to the English full stop, however, Arabic punctuation conventions can vary across regions and styles of writing.
Japanese writing combines ideographic characters (kanji) with syllabic scripts (hiragana and katakana). While Japanese traditionally did not use punctuation extensively, the modern writing system also incorporates an equivalent to the full stop, known as “句点” (kuten), to signify the end of a sentence or statement; kuten looks like a small circle 。This same symbol appears in written Chinese, while punctuation marks were traditionally less standardised in this script, with the influence of Western punctuation conventions, here too, the full stop “句号” (jùhào) has found its place as a sentence terminator. Hindi, written in the Devanagari script, incorporates the full stop, known as “पूर्ण विराम” (pūrṇa virāma); in this instance, it looks like a downward line । .
For more information on the writing systems of the world, please visit this page.
There are also some languages still extant that do not use punctuation marks such as Maya script, some tribal writing and ancient scripts. But, one modern example of this is the Thai language, which is written without spaces between words and without punctuation characters; meaning must be understood from context. However, in place of where a user of the Roman alphabet might use a full stop, Thai script uses a space to indicate an end to that unit of sense, so there is some form of an equivalent.
Conclusion
The full stop, then, has its equivalent in many world languages and scripts, and while the point is used quite differently, the full stop as an end to a sentence is universally recognised for its usefulness and clarity and is employed in like manner.
If you have any questions or comments, please do enter them below.
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