Navbar
Leaderboard Banner
< The Period

The Period: The Period (#1)

Dennis Oliver
What's it called?
(The Period, #1)

One very common and important punctuation mark
( . ) looks like a small, dark circle. This mark has
several different names, depending on how it is used:

1.

When ( . ) is used with numbers, it's called
(and read as) a point:

1.2 = one point two

2.31 = two point three one

6.4028 = six point four oh two eight
2.

When ( . ) is used with e-mail address
or URLs (WWW addresses), it's called
(and read as) a dot:

sperling@eslcafe.com = Sperling at
ESL cafe dot com

www.eslcafe.com = WWW dot
ESL cafe dot com
3.

When ( . ) is used to end statements,
it's called (but not usually read as)
a period:

He came. ( . ) = period

He saw. ( . ) = period

He conquered. ( . ) = period

_________________________________________

Special Notes

1.

Numbers after a ( . ) can also be read
as decimals:

1.2 = one and two tenths

2.31 = two and thirty-one hundredths

6.4028 = six and four thousand twenty-eight
ten thousandths
2. When ( . ) is used to end statements,
it's also called (but not usually read as)
a full stop. This term is not common
in American English, however.
3.

Note that there is no extra space before
a period:

yes: He came.
no: *He came .
Leaderboard Banner