abbreviations - When "etc." is at the end of a phrase, do you place a period after it?


Example:



It's all about apples, oranges, bananas, etc.



VS.



It's all about apples, oranges, bananas, etc..



Update


What happens if the abbreviation is inside parentheses, do you place a dot after and before the closing parenthesis?



It's all about fruit (apples, bananas, etc.).




Answer



The correct form of your example:



It’s all about apples, oranges, bananas, etc.



Jack Lynch’s Guide to Grammar and Style states:



This one is simple enough: never double up periods. If a statement ends with “etc.” the period in the abbreviation does double duty, serving as the full stop to end the sentence. If, however, you need another mark of punctuation after an abbreviation, you can put it after the period. So:



  • This was her first trip to the U.S. (The period does double-duty, ending both the abbreviation and the sentence.)

  • Is this your first trip to the U.S.? (The period ends the abbreviation, but the question mark ends the sentence.)

  • On her first trip to the U.S., Kristina lost her passport. (The period ends the abbreviation, but the sentence keeps going after the comma.)


The only thing to remember: don't double the periods. Everything else is logical enough.



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