What you need to know about ending punctuation:

Periods. A period is the small, single dot that we put at the end of the last word in a sentence to indicate the end of that sentence.

• There is no space before the period mark and one space before the start of the first word of the next sentence.

Question Marks. A question mark is the ? that we put at the end of the last word in a sentence to indicate both the end of that sentence and that the sentence is a question.

• There is no space before the question mark and one space before the start of the first word of the next sentence.

• We only use the question mark when the entire sentence is a question, not when a question is embedded in a larger sentence.

  • The exception is when you use a direct quote within your sentence. 

The Big Idea. We use ending punctuation to help our readers see where our thought ends, and to give our readers a mental breath before diving into the next thought.

• We specifically use question marks to let readers know that the sentence is a question.

Emojis.

• We recommend putting the period or question mark directly after the emoji, with no space 🤓. This is for situations with multiple sentences.

• Put the emoji after the ending punctuation if it is at the end of a text. 🤓