1

What's the rule about sentences that end in something that already has a period in it?

Like a sentence that ends in: Washington D.C. -or- etc.

Personally, and I realise this is wrong, I would love to have two periods - the first being, of course, the mark for the abbreviation and the second being the period/full-stop of the sentence.

I'm guessing that it is just treated as a stone that kills two birds, but I've never heard a definite answer as to how to deal with these.

Mou某
  • 5,377
  • Possible duplicate of The Use of e.g. at the end of a sentence" (http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/42326/the-use-of-e-g-at-the-end-of-a-sentence) and When “etc.” is at the end of a phrase, do you place a period after it? (http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/8382/when-etc-is-at-the-end-of-a-phrase-do-you-place-a-period-after-it) – JAM Apr 14 '14 at 03:53

1 Answers1

3

Yes, punctuation can feel illogical. In fact, there are different standards across English-speaking countries, such as the U.S. and Australia. But wherever you are, it's one period only. Period.

zx81
  • 301