Two periods required?

Question

When a sentence ends with a parenthetical statement which itself ends with a period, does the sentence also need a period? Example:

I love eating vegetables (carrots, peas, etc.).

The two periods don't look correct, but seem technically correct.

The full stop after etc. is not there to mark the end of a clause. It is there in recognition of etc. being an abbreviation. Had the etc. not appeared you would not, presumably have placed a stop after 'peas'. Had you have done it would have been quite unnecessary. If my sentence ends in etc., or some other abbreviation, I always place two stops. — WS2, Nov 10 '14 at 19:37

score 2 · Answer 1 · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:38

2

Both periods are necessary: the first so that "etc" is a properly written abbreviation, and the second to terminate the sentence after the parenthesis.

On the other hand, if the sentence had ended in an abbreviation (not inside parentheses), then two consecutive periods would not have been necessary.

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:38

Community

1

answered Nov 10 '14 at 19:35

200_success

6,958

score 1 · Answer 2 · answered Nov 10 '14 at 21:10

1

The tendency in BrE is not to use a full stop after abbreviations, so there is no problem here. We write I love eating vegetables (carrots, peas, etc).

answered Nov 10 '14 at 21:10

tunny

4,808

score -2 · Answer 3 · answered Nov 10 '14 at 19:27

-2

yes and, in your example there should not be a comma after "peas"

answered Nov 10 '14 at 19:27

Martin

1,513

2

This answer disagrees with your suggestion to omit the comma before "etc." – 200_success Nov 10 '14 at 19:36

Two periods required?

3 Answers3