Breaking News English

A language expert says using a full stop to [send / end] sentences in text messages can look [rude / rudely] . A full stop is used in British English; in American English, this punctuation mark is called a [period / interval] . Linguist Gretchen McCulloch says [more / most] and more people think ending messages with a full stop is rude. She said this view is most [commonly / common] in younger people who use [instance / instant] messaging apps like Twitter and Facebook Messenger. Ms McCulloch said people [prefer / rather] to send a completely new message instead [of / for] ending a sentence with a full stop. She said: "If you're a young person and you're sending a message to [no one / someone] , the default way to break up your thoughts is to send each [thought / think] as a new message."

The full stop dates [past / back] around 2,300 years. It is an [essential / key] part of writing today. School teachers can put [many / lots] of comments in red ink on a student's writing if that student forgets to add the full stop at the end of his or [her / their] sentence. However, technology is changing the way we [writing / write] . Most people now use abbreviations or acronyms in text messages. They might use [a / the] acronym 'LOL' instead of writing 'laugh out loud,' or the [abbreviation / abbreviate] 'fyi' rather than typing 'for your information'. Ms McCulloch says not using the full stop helps the writer [save / saving] time. She also says that a full stop can make the writer look a little [aggression / aggressive] . Many people prefer to end a sentence with an emoji or emoticon instead of a [full / fully] stop :-)