Periods

A period can be used the break up a long, run-on sentence, usually to avoid comma splicing in reading. In speech, this is useful to show the speaker where they are supposed to take a breath. In our writing and reading, periods show you where the sentence ends and where a new one begins. This can suggest a change in subject or focus, but this can also break up a run-on where it is a long sentence that has the same subject and focus, but is too long. Mostly, periods are used to end a sentence, and they are used to split the subjects and focuses of a writing piece. These are one of two ways to fix a run-on sentence. The other way is to use a semicolon, which we will explore on the next post.