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PERIOD S AND ELLIPSES

In telegrams, the word
• When using abbreviations, be STOP was used to mark
consistent and either always use the end of a sentence
periods, or never use them.
instead of a period,
• Most acronyms, such as NASA
or NATO, should be written because it cost less
without periods.
than punctuation.

GLO S S A RY
Abbreviations Washington, D.C. Abbreviation A shortened form
A period can be used at the ends D.C. stands for of a word, often with one or more
of certain abbreviations, representing “District of Columbia.” periods to represent missing letters.
letters that have been omitted. Oct. Jr. Acronym An abbreviation made up
For example, Dr. stands for “Doctor.” Jr. stands of the initial letters of a series of
words and in which the letters are
Some abbreviations, such as those Oct. stands for “Junior.” pronounced as they are spelled,
for metric measurements and for “October.” rather than as separate letters.
US states, are never spelled Dept. Command A sentence that gives
Dr. for “Department.” Statement A sentence that conveys
with a period. Dept. stands an instruction.

lb. stands lb. a fact or piece of information.
Dr. stands for “Doctor.” for “pounds.”

Leading scientist Dr. Fisher

Wait, I forgot to tell you...”

Ellipses This ellipsis means that the
speaker suddenly stopped
Three periods in a row are called an ellipsis. An ellipsis I thought… speaking. No period is needed.
indicates that a sentence has been left unfinished, as
when a speaker drifts into silence or is cut off abruptly.
Ellipses can also represent omitted text within quotations. A question mark or exclamation
Could I…? point is kept after an ellipsis.
This ellipsis stands for the missing words from
the start of the sentence in the quotation. The
missing words could be “Today we heard that.” This ellipsis indicates missing
text. Some style guides suggest
The report said that “…Dr. Fisher…is placing spaces before and
after the ellipsis.
correct.…The island is near…”

If text is omitted after a complete sentence, the
ellipsis is placed after the final punctuation mark.