Terminal punctuation

. ? ! ‽
. ? ! ‽
Terminal punctuation

Terminal punctuation refers to the punctuation marks used to identify the end of a portion of text. Terminal punctuation marks are also referred to as end marks^[1] and stops.^[2]

In languages using the ISO basic Latin alphabet, terminal punctuation marks are defined as the period, the question mark, and the exclamation mark.^[3]^[4] These punctuation marks may bring sentences to a close. In their widest sense, terminal punctuation marks bring any element of written text to a close, including other conventions, such as abbreviations.^[5]

Terminal punctuation in English
		Interrogative
		No	Yes
Exclamatory	No	Period or Full stop (.)	Question mark (?)
Exclamatory	Yes	Exclamation mark (!)	Interrobang (‽)

Notes

^ Baugh 2005. p. 45.
^ Research and Education Association 2009. p. 177.
^ University of Chicago Press 1982 Chicago Manual of Style. p. 133.
^ Lutz and Stevenson 2005. p. 199.
^ Loberger and Shoup 2009. p. 158.

References

Baugh, L. Sue (2005). Essentials of English Grammar: The Quick Guide to Good English (3rd ed.). New York: McGraw Hill. ISBN 978-0-07-145708-8.
Loberger, Gordon; Shoup, Kate (2009). Webster's New World English Grammar Handbook (2nd ed.). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley Publishing. ISBN 978-0-470-41080-6.
Lutz, Gary; Stevenson, Diane (2005). The Writing Digest Grammar Desk Reference. Cincinnati, OH: Writer's Digest Books. ISBN 978-1-58297-335-7.
Staff of REA (2009). REA's Handbook of English Grammar, Style, and Writing. Research and Education Association. ISBN 978-0-87891-552-1.
University of Chicago Press (1982). The Chicago Manual of Style: For Authors, Editors, and Copywriters (13th Revised and Expanded ed.). Chicago and London: University of Chicago Press. ISBN 978-0-226-10403-4.

[1] Baugh 2005. p. 45.

[2] Research and Education Association 2009. p. 177.

[3] University of Chicago Press 1982 Chicago Manual of Style. p. 133.

[4] Lutz and Stevenson 2005. p. 199.

[5] Loberger and Shoup 2009. p. 158.

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[2]

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[5]

v t e Common punctuation and other typographical symbols
space , comma : colon ; semicolon ‐ hyphen ’ ' apostrophe ′ ″ ‴ prime . full stop
& ampersand @ at sign ^ caret / slash \ backslash … ellipsis * asterisk ※ Reference mark ⁂ asterism • • • dinkus
- hyphen-minus ‒ – — dash ⹀ ⸗ double hyphen
? question mark ! exclamation mark ‽ interrobang ¡ ¿ inverted ! and ? ⸮ irony punctuation
# number sign № numero sign º ª ordinal indicator % percent sign ‰ per mille ‱ basis point ° degree symbol ⌀ diameter sign
+ − plus and minus signs × multiplication sign ÷ division sign ~ tilde ± plus–minus sign ∓ minus-plus sign √ radical symbol
_ underscore ⁀ tie \| ¦ ‖ vertical bar • bullet · interpunct
© copyright symbol ℗ sound recording copyright ® registered trademark ^SM service mark symbol ^TM trademark symbol
‘ ’ “ ” ' ' " " quotation mark ‹ › « » guillemet ( ) [ ] { } ⟨ ⟩ bracket ” ditto mark
† ‡ dagger ❧ fleuron (hedera, aldus) ☞ manicule ◊ ⌑ lozenge ¶ ⸿ pilcrow (paragraph mark) § section mark
Version of this table as a sortable list Currency symbols Diacritics (accents) Logic symbols Math symbols Whitespace Chinese punctuation Hebrew punctuation Japanese punctuation Korean punctuation Vietnamese punctuation

Terminal punctuation

Terminal punctuation

Terminal punctuation

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Terminal punctuation

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References