When a sentence ends with a parenthetical statement which itself ends with a period, does the sentence also need a period? Example:
I love eating vegetables (carrots, peas, etc.).
The two periods don't look correct, but seem technically correct.
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The full stop after etc. is not there to mark the end of a clause. It is there in recognition of etc. being an abbreviation. Had the etc. not appeared you would not, presumably have placed a stop after 'peas'. Had you have done it would have been quite unnecessary. If my sentence ends in etc., or some other abbreviation, I always place two stops.– WS2Nov 10, 2014 at 19:37
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3 Answers
Both periods are necessary: the first so that "etc" is a properly written abbreviation, and the second to terminate the sentence after the parenthesis.
On the other hand, if the sentence had ended in an abbreviation (not inside parentheses), then two consecutive periods would not have been necessary.
answered Nov 10, 2014 at 19:35
The tendency in BrE is not to use a full stop after abbreviations, so there is no problem here. We write I love eating vegetables (carrots, peas, etc).
yes and, in your example there should not be a comma after "peas"
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2This answer disagrees with your suggestion to omit the comma before "etc." Nov 10, 2014 at 19:36