British use of period or not

Some grammar rules (and embarrassing mistakes!) transcend the uniqueness of different regions and style guides. This new International Grammar section by OnlineBookClub.org ultimately identifies those rules thus providing a simple, flexible rule-set, respecting the differences between regions and style guides. You can feel free to ask general questions about spelling and grammar. You can also provide example sentences for other members to proofread and inform you of any grammar mistakes.

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Marinemom+87
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British use of period or not

Post by Marinemom+87 »

When reading a book from a British author, is it correct to omit the period after Mr or Mrs ? Is using British spelling of a word acceptable?
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Post by MrsCatInTheHat »

Marinemom+87 wrote: 05 May 2019, 11:27 When reading a book from a British author, is it correct to omit the period after Mr or Mrs ? Is using British spelling of a word acceptable?
British spelling is acceptable so long as it is consistent throughout the review and the book.
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Post by EvaDar »

Marinemom+87 wrote: 05 May 2019, 11:27 When reading a book from a British author, is it correct to omit the period after Mr or Mrs ? Is using British spelling of a word acceptable?
To be technical, British style guides allow for no periods with abbreviations that are the first and last letter of the word. Others, they usually use periods.

In British styles these are all correct:

Mr (first and last letter)
Ms (first and last letter)
Dr (for doctor - first and last letter)
Dr. (for drive)
US (for United States)
PhD

This is a style issue with a lot of exceptions and inconsistencies between US, Canadian, and British styles. I have used both styles in my reviews and have not had an editor mark them as errors either way. I think the key is consistency throughout the review.
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Post by Helen_Combe »

Technically, Mr is not an abbreviation, it is a contraction of a single word. For that reason, Brits do not put a full stop after Mr while they do for M.D. Which is an abbreviation of two words, medical and doctor.
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Post by Nikolas Farmakis »

I think you omit the period after Mr and Mrs in British spelling and British spelling is acceptable as long as you use British spelling throughout your writing.
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