Punctuation

Full stop

The punctuation mark full stop (.) is used to close sentences. A new sentence that follows a full stop has a capital letter.

• Honesty is the best policy.
• Sweet are the uses of adversity.
• A friend in need is a friend indeed.

Full stops are also used in writing abbreviations. This is becoming less common in British English.

Examples are: oz. for ounce (s), Prof. for professor, i.e. for in other words and e.g. for for example.

Question marks

Question marks (?) are used to close direct questions. A new sentence that follows a question mark has a capital letter.

• What are you doing?
• Did you get my letter?
• Why do we try to reach the stars?

Note that we do not use question marks after indirect questions.

• He asked me if I had received his letter.
• I asked her what time it was.

Exclamation marks

The exclamation mark (!) is placed at the end of an utterance which is an exclamation or which merely expresses strong emotion.

• What a lovely painting it is! (exclamation)
• How beautifully she sings! (exclamation)
• You must leave at once! (strong emotion)
• I can’t believe this! (strong emotion)

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