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Grammatically Correct: The writer's essential guide to punctuation ...

Grammatically Correct: The writer's essential guide to punctuation ...

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GRAMMATICALLY CORRECT<br />

DON'T INCLUDE A PERIOD IF A SENTENCE ENDS IN ANOTHER<br />

TERMINAL PUNCTUATION MARK, EVEN IF THAT MARK<br />

DOES NOT APPLY TO THE SENTENCE ASA WHOLE<br />

<strong>The</strong>y signed their divorce papers right after lunch, and then headed off<br />

<strong>to</strong> a matinee of I Do! I Do!<br />

Before you begin, be sure <strong>to</strong> read the section entitled Should I Begin?<br />

She has that annoying habit of ending almost every sentence with "you<br />

know what I mean?"<br />

Readers will understand that in cases like this the question mark<br />

or exclamation point applies <strong>to</strong> just the words at the end, and that<br />

the entire sentence is not querying or exclama<strong>to</strong>ry.<br />

Note that if the words for which the other <strong>punctuation</strong> mark<br />

applies are enclosed within parentheses, you would put a period at<br />

the end of the sentence. See the section on style conventions under<br />

"Parentheses" on page 150.<br />

IF A SENTENCE ENDS IN AN ABBREVIATION THAT INCLUDES<br />

A PERIOD, DO NOT ADD ANOTHER PERIOD<br />

If you have any complaints about this product, send them in writing <strong>to</strong><br />

Acme Manufacturing, Inc.<br />

<strong>The</strong> list of student demands included less homework, a better selection<br />

of ice cream flavors in the cafeteria, more time allotted for surfing the<br />

Net, etc.<br />

That is, you let the period that goes with the abbreviation do<br />

double duty as a terminal <strong>punctuation</strong> mark.<br />

Note: You may follow an abbreviating period at the end of a<br />

sentence with a question mark or exclamation point. For example:<br />

Is the company name followed by Inc. or Ltd.?<br />

BE CONSISTENT WITH THE USE OF PERIODS<br />

AT THE END OF LIST ITEMS<br />

Style <strong>guide</strong>s differ as <strong>to</strong> whether a period should appear at the end of<br />

each item in a vertical list. That is, should your list be presented as:<br />

108<br />

Item 1.<br />

Item 2.<br />

Item 3.<br />

OR Item 1<br />

Item 2<br />

Item 3

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