Do you use full stops when messaging, or not bother?
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Do you use full stops at the end of a sentence when sending a text, message on social media, or getting back to your mates in a group chat? Or do you just not bother?
Often if it's a short message, there doesn't seem much reason to - even though your English teacher would probably say that you should.
But although it's correct grammar, some people say if they saw a reply that said "cool." rather than, "cool" or cool!" they would think that person was being rude, weird or even angry.
Do you agree? Would it make a difference if they added an emoji at the end, as well?
A study carried out in March last year at Binghamton University, in the USA, found that the use of full stops in text messages can be perceived as abrupt.
It also said that one-word texts with full stops at the end were seen more negatively than those without a full stop.
Language expert Gretchen McCulloch thinks it's because full stops make things seem more formal or serious.
She said: "This can be fine if your message is already serious.
"The problem comes when you have a positive message with the seriousness of the full stop."
She says this creates "that sense of passive aggression", where you think maybe they are annoyed at you.
There are also signs that full stops can leave someone wondering if your message is sarcastic.
In another study by Binghamton University in 2015, around 126 students said that they perceived text messages ending in a full stop as being less sincere than the same message without a full stop.
If you got a message like this, would you think the full stop meant they were annoyed at you for asking?
Languages expert Juliette Platt said that although she thinks full stops can be used in an intimidating way, most of the time they're just there to help the structure.
In fact she sees leaving out the full stop as making a statement in itself - a bit like a mic drop!
She said it's "something similar to flouncing out of the room" when you've had the last word in an argument.
Do we need to worry about full stops in messages?
No, Juliette says, as long as the people having the conversation understand each other there's no need to read into why they have or haven't used a full stop.
She added: "Text messaging is the most informal and instant form of communication that we've got, so punctuation shouldn't really matter.
"For people communicating on text, as long as they are mutually comfortable with the level or lack of punctuation then I don't really think it matters."
- Published21 April 2020
- Published17 November 2017
