In the third century BC, the full stop, or period, was introduced by Greek literary critic Aristophanes of Byzantium. This punctuation mark is used to show the end of a sentence.
However, the full stop has a different meaning to teenagers and those in their early 20s, who interpret this punctuation mark as a sign of anger. And there is a reason for that.
The younger generation has grown up using the texts as their primary means of communication.
When sending messages, they tend to break up their thoughts by sending each one as a separate message, instead of using a full stop. Some have said the full stop is redundant when used in texting because the message is ended just by sending it.
According to the Telegraph, linguist Lauren Fonteyn of Leiden University in the Netherlands, tweeted: “If you send a text message without a full stop, it's already obvious that you've concluded the message.” “So if you add that additional marker for completion, they will read something into it and it tends to be a falling intonation or negative tone.”
David Crystal, one of the world's leading language experts, argues that the usage of full stops is being “revised in a really fundamental way”. In his book Making a Point, he says that the punctuation mark has become an “emotion marker" that reminds the recipient that the sender is angry or annoyed.
Though the full stop has taken on a different meaning to the younger generation, experts noted that it is important to take context into account. For example, using full stops in an email is perfectly acceptable and is not considered rude.
【小题1】What does the underlined word "redundant" probably mean?| A．Clear. | B．Unacceptable. | C．Unnecessary. | D．Old-fashioned. |
| A．Using the full stop improves communication. |
| B．The usage of the full stop is changing for the worse. |
| C．A text message is quite different from spoken language. |
| D．The full stop in text messages can show senders' emotions. |
| A．Consider different situations. | B．Check who the recipient is. |
| C．Take it as an “emotion marker”. | D．Follow the culture of the young generation. |
| A．The history of punctuation marks. | B．A new meaning to the full stop. |
| C．Correct ways to use the full stop. | D．Different views on punctuation marks. |
