Full Stop
Syntactical Use
A full stop (.) is a left-leaning punctuation mark. This means that it 'touches' the preceding word, but is followed by a space.
It is ordinarily used at the end of a neutral declaratory sentence, be it a real sentence with a predicate or a non-sentence.
- To je bilo včeraj. (This was yesterday.)
- Včeraj. (Yesterday.)
When a statement is articulated, the pitch is cadent, thus decreased towards the end of such a sentence.
In an indicative compound sentence with the last part an independent clause that does not end in a full stop, the full stop is omitted.
- Rekli so mi, naj grem, a kam? (They told me to go, but where?)
- (and not "Rekli so mi, naj grem, a kam?.")
The final punctuation mark of a quoted sentence (with or without inverted commas) within a declaratory sentence is omitted if the quoted sentence is not preceded by a colon.
- Ko smo hodili po travi, smo opazili prepoved Ne hodi po travi. (When walking on the grass, we noticed the restriction Do not walk on the grass.)
- Ko smo hodili po travi, smo opazili prepoved: Ne hodi po travi!
A full stop is replaced by a comma in direct speech before the accompanying sentence.
- "Oh, mar bi bile ostale doma," je zamrmrala Marjeta. ("Oh, they/we might as well have stayed home," muttered Marjeta (Daisy).)
Non-Syntactical Use
Some abbreviations are, as in American English, always followed by a full stop.
- dr. (doktor; Dr, doctor); npr. (na primer; e.g., for example, exempli gratia); tj. (to je; this is); l. (leto; year); t.i. (tako imenovani; so-called); itn., itd. (in tako naprej, in tako dalje; etc., et cetera, and so on).
However, other abbreviations are, as in American English, never followed by a full stop.
- ZDA (Združene države Amerike; USA, United States of America)
- km (kilometer; km, kilometre)
- Fe (železo; Fe, iron)
Ordinal numerals are followed by a full stop.
Numbers may be separated by leaning full stops in the following cases:
- for time of the day
- Ob 22.15 ('dvaindvajset petnajst' or 'dvaindvajsetih in petnajst minut') se film konča. (At 22.15 (10.15 pm) the film ends.)
- 22.15 can also be written as 2215
- Ob 22.15 ('dvaindvajset petnajst' or 'dvaindvajsetih in petnajst minut') se film konča. (At 22.15 (10.15 pm) the film ends.)
- to separate thousands from the rest
- 1.000.000 (en milijon; one million, 1,000,000) (but more usual is 1 000 000)
- to show multiplication
- 3 · 9 (tri krat devet; three times nine)
- note that in this case, the dot is raised to the line centre and is non-leaning
- 3 · 9 (tri krat devet; three times nine)
Dates are written with dots separating the day, month and year. Note that the numerical English dates below are British English; American English switches the month and the day. It is important to realise that the full stop is left-leaning; the space is intentional (yet only few are aware of that).
- 1. 10. 2003 (prvi deseti dva tisoč tri, prvi oktober dva tisoč tri; the first of October, two thousand and three, 1/10/2003)
- 25. 6. 1991 (petindvajseti šesti (junij) tisoč devetsto enaindevetdeset; the twenty-fifth of June, nineteen ninety-one, 25/6/1991)
- 30. maj (trideseti maj; the 30th of May)
If a non-syntactical full stop is at the end of a sentence, it is not usual to append another full stop to it; however, doing so is not incorrect.
- Prodajam časopise, avtobusne žetone, zobne ščetke itd. (I sell newspapers, bus tokens, toothbrushes, etc.)
- Prodajam časopise, avtobusne žetone, zobne ščetke itd..
Read more about this topic: Slovene Punctuation
Famous quotes containing the words full and/or stop:
“A good marriage ... is a sweet association in life: full of constancy, trust, and an infinite number of useful and solid services and mutual obligations.”
—Michel de Montaigne (15331592)
“I hate television. I hate it as much as peanuts. But I cant stop eating peanuts.”
—Orson Welles (19151985)