Pedant Thread: Do we need the fullstop punctuation mark anymore?

[mercalia]

This thread is for the pedants I suppose

I dont think we do. If you capitalise the next sentence that should be enough? You dont need both to capitalise and use a full stop?

Do we also need to dot "i"s? as long as you draw "l"s properly no need to and the context any way avoids confusion?

[meic]

If you capitalise the next sentence that should be enough?

You may have used a capital for some other reason, every time there is a name you will have to check to work out if it is the start of a new sentence or not.

[mercalia]

If you capitalise the next sentence that should be enough?

You may have used a capital for some other reason, every time there is a name you will have to check to work out if it is the start of a new sentence or not.

mainly if it is a proper name? Any way these days I cant see the fullstops, what a silly mark to use anyway. I think people read sentences and more as a whole guessing/predicting the meaning?

[Spinners]

I find your argument pointless

[661-Pete]

Time to put a stop to this thread●

[Si]

what a silly mark to use anyway. I think people read sentences and more as

ah but if you remove the full stop from what you just said it becomes ambiguous as to whether you are expressing an opinon or a statement of fact as we cant tell if the 'i think' belongs to the first bit or second.

[Mick F]

A sentence starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop.

Sentences have a subject and a predicate. They can be as little as only two words, but they must have a subject and a predicate.

Yet to write to the IAM magazine editor - if you can call her an editor - regarding the first "sentence" of her piece at the front of the latest RoadSmart magazine,

I quote:
Want to keep your advanced driving or riding skills sharp and up to date?

That's not a sentence.

I'll be writing to Sarah Bradley soon.

[mercalia]

what a silly mark to use anyway. I think people read sentences and more as

ah but if you remove the full stop from what you just said it becomes ambiguous as to whether you are expressing an opinon or a statement of fact as we cant tell if the 'i think' belongs to the first bit or second.

eh anything i say ( I aint Moses ) must be firstly an opinion of mine whether I say I think or not, saying I think just expresses humility?
Religeous people or politicians like to think that not adding I think or I believe puts their opinions beyond dispute?

I could have rephrased the sentences as

what a silly mark to use anyway People read sentences and more as a whole guessing/predicting the meaning?.

[661-Pete]

Here's a curiosity I just found out about (don't make too much of it).

In recent months, in my approaching dotage, I've taken to doing crosswords once more. I've even explored the possibility of setting cryptic crosswords myself, as a hobby. Just as some folks take to painting, writing, composing music, etc. etc.

In pursuance of that, I've been in correspondence with one of the professional crossword-setters (publishes in two daily papers). He advised me that crossword clues should never end in a full-stop unless that's a significant element in the clue. I didn't believe this, but on looking through a pile of old newspapers, I can confirm: this is perfectly true!

So there's one - rather esoteric - usage of the English language, where the full stop has fallen into disuse. Read into this what you will! I don't think this piece of info helps to further Merc's cause, though...

[Mick F]

Some of them end in exclamation marks or question marks.
When I woz at skool, the dots at the bottom of these took the place of a full stop.

Do you think this is true?

The above is a sentence, and it is also a question.
It starts with a capital letter and ends with a (full)stop.

[[XAP]Bob]

A sentence starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop.

Ends with a punctuation mark.

Question marks, exclamation mark, interrobang, ellipses...
There is also the option of speech marks, which may or may not be considered the end of a quoted sentence.

Given that we're in full pedant mode I am sure I have fulfilled both of my responsibilities on an online forum:
- I have provided an incomplete list.
- I will have made at least one grammar and/or spelling error.

[Stevek76]

Given the way language happily evolves regardless of the protests from the prescriptivists and pedants it seems to me that we still do (usually) need the fullstop. If we didn't it'd have disappeared a while back.

[[XAP]Bob]

Given the way language happily evolves regardless of the protests from the prescriptivists and pedants it seems to me that we still do (usually) need the fullstop. If we didn't it'd have disappeared a while back.

Given that descriptivists also say that they are needed...

I suppose the one exception in modern comms is anything where the entire message is a single sentence. SMS/twitter/IM are the obvious cases - character count is limited either technically (160/140) or by intent (I don't need to write continuous prose in an IM chat)...

[Stevek76]

I'm not sure a true descriptivist could say that they are needed, that would be prescriptive. Just that they appear to be needed.

And yes, single sentences in IM seem to fall into a similar box as titles, putting a fullstop on the end often looks clunky and unnecessary I guess.

Even in a work context, just flipping through the totally representative sample of some my skype chats, full stops only seem to get used if there's more than one sentence in a line (where, interestingly, the last sentence usually then gets one as well), to emphasis the point/finality of something or as part of an ellipsis, which is technically another punctuation mark altogether...

[Mick F]

A sentence starts with a capital letter and ends with a full stop.

Ends with a punctuation mark.

It ends with a question mark, part of which is a stop.

You don't do this:
How are you today?.