This is the Business English Podcast, episode 247.
This episode will help you punctuate correctly, period. welcome to the business english podcast from all ears english get the english skills you need to achieve your dreams in global business for a presentation a meeting or your office party this is real business english with your favorite american hosts lindsay and michelle coming to you from new york city and colorado usa Still translating in your head when you speak English?
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Hey, Lindsay, how are you? Doing great, Michelle.
How's everything going for you? What's going on?
Yeah, everything is good. Everything is good.
Lindsay, are you confident when it comes to punctuation?
Well, these days, sometimes I use Grammarly, which helps my confidence.
I would say. I mean, for the most part, I am because I can see Grammarly helping me out a little bit and then learn from that, right?
Hopefully. That's good. What about you, Michelle? yeah i think we've all talked about i think once on the show i shared that uh in fourth grade the teacher told me i was comma happy um so in the past i had some trouble with commas but i've gotten better but you know they're they're tricky commas are tricky little ones yeah it also comes out with commas sometimes it depends on your style You know, yeah, there are some sentences where someone would enter a comma more frequently and other people wouldn't.
It just depends on your writing style. So there's a little bit more the area comma kind.
Oh, yeah. But certainly the Oxford comma for sure is one of them.
But even in other areas of sentences, I think there's some discrepancies for sure.
Interesting. Well, today we are not talking about commas, but we are talking about periods, dots and points. oh my okay like lions and tigers and bears oh my yes yes guys this comes to us because of a listener question a really great specific question that i love this is really important for the business world because you might be using these in a meeting writing a report whatever it may be so we're going to talk about it more in just a second but if you haven't already go on back to episode 240 of the business english podcast that is how to be fiercely competitive about your English.
So listen up for that one. yay and today michelle we have a listener question love the questions bring you know send us your questions guys we love getting your questions on the show right yes for sure shall i read velcon's question sure let's go for it okay this is from velcon belmont hello girls i really love your podcast and i've been telling everybody about you oh thank you velcon we appreciate that so much word of mouth is the best way to keep allers english strong and growing I have a question.
What's the difference in uses of the words period, dot, and point?
Thanks a lot. Ooh, good one. Yes, very good question.
So let's get into it, Lindsay. Do these all mean the same thing?
Oh, well, I don't know, Michelle. I'm going to think about this as we go along today, but I feel like we can flesh this out for sure.
For sure. But they look the same. It's all the same.
They all look the same. So we are referring to the same thing.
Yeah. Right. But we use it in different ways.
So we have a lot of nuances. So let's start with period.
All right. Here we go. So period. Right.
So this is what we use at the end of a sentence, only the end of a sentence.
Right. It also shows that something is definitive.
Like we could say, period. This is the final decision, period.
Right. Right. Right. So you could say if you're talking about the actual sentence. punctuation mark, Lindsay, what would you say?
What's an example? We might say, Hey, let's put a period at the end of this sentence.
It's the end of an idea. Okay. That's why I'm maybe I'm correcting your writing or something.
Okay. Right. Or like you said, we have to cancel this membership period.
It's just final. Some people might say final or full stop or something like that.
Right. And that's just more of an expression, a way of showing it.
And obviously if you're writing that you also, probably would put a period but really the use of that verbally is kind of fun right now exactly exactly so that's period pretty basic guys let's go to dot so dot to me is used mostly with letters and websites so something like cross your t's and dot your eyes for example oh that's a j i couldn't tell without the dot And what you're talking about is the little, well, it's the little round point at the top of the squiggly J, right?
Yes. Yes. Okay. So cross your T's and dot your I's.
That's an expression, Michelle. Tell us what that means.
Well, I actually think that we've done this on the All Ears English podcast before, but maybe we'll do an update.
Basically, it's double check to make sure everything is correct. yeah and that's very it's a common idiom term so guys add that to your repertoire of what maybe yeah maybe we'll go back to that another day right yeah yeah and then certainly when we're talking about urls addresses you hear us announce different addresses here on this web addresses on this show right for example michelle what would it be go to all ears english dot com to hear more lindsay would it be weird if i said go to all ears english period comp yes it would be very weird because again period implies the end of something and i'm right in the middle of that url right exactly yeah abercrombie's viral denim sale is back and spotify listeners get an extra 15 off with code spotify af abercrombie is known for their denim with 30 to 50 off all jeans find out how denim should feel shop the viral denim sale in the abercrombie app online or in stores Valid in stores and online through August 11th, 2025 in U.S. and Canada.
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Now, moving on. We've done period. We've done dot.
Let's do point. Point. All right. When I hear point, I think of math mostly.
I think of decimal points. So good for accountants.
If we have any accountants listening, it could be good for you or just anybody who needs to share a number.
So, Lindsay, what's an example? Yeah. So you could say, uh, there was a 0.37% decrease in our sales this past month, a tiny little decrease, right?
So it's not 37%, obviously, thank goodness.
Right. Uh, it's less than 1%. So it's a 0.37% decrease.
All right. Right. Okay. Or you could also say, okay, enter in this number.
3.671. So maybe someone has a calculator and you need to tell them to add, you're telling them to add a bunch of numbers together.
Actually, this just makes me think of, this was a, it's an interestingly timed episode because over the weekend, we were walking around Manhattan and my son, we were in a store actually down by Astor Place and My son saw a calculator in a store and the calculator was $21.
And he said, I want to have that calculator.
I want that. He was so excited. And I said, I am not.
Lindsay, would you spend $21 on a calculator?
That's a lot. It better be a very fancy calculator.
And I better really need a fancy calculator to spend 20.
I think that's crazy. Right. So I know. Well, it was kind of a specialty store.
There were some stickers on it, but I mean, my gosh. for something he's just going to lose.
So I said, oh, we'll get you one at CVS.
So then we were on a search and it was raining and we were searching everywhere for a calculator.
So we're on CVS and they didn't have a calculator.
Then we were, there was a Wegmans. I thought maybe they have school supplies and a no calculator.
It was just also funny because it's a sign of the times.
I'm just running and do you have a calculator?
Like I don't have one on my phone. Finally, we tried the FedEx, they didn't have it.
And then we found one at Staples. So I got both my kids calculators, and they were holding them up.
And now he's obsessed with the calculator.
So he can learn about decimal points. So I just had to share that story.
Wow, that sounds like a real New York City drama, Michelle.
Yeah, the rain, the rain, my goodness. Yes, exactly.
Those are the kinds of adventures I get myself into.
But so so think of my kids in the calculators with the points. yeah for sure i mean so in terms of what's common here i feel like these days i'm using dot the most because of dot com everything is dot com but now now things are dot a i dot edu uh all sorts and dot for certain countries right dot jp for japan for example right we use that a lot yeah yeah But all of these could be used, uh, at work, which is why I wanted to do this on the business English podcast, because you, again, you're, you're an accountant or you're just sharing numbers.
You're sharing data. You're going to use that point for the numbers.
If you're sharing a website, like Lindsay said, you're going to do the dot.
If you are just telling, editing someone's report, you're going to use period.
So all of these can be used in the workplace.
But yeah, I do agree. I feel like dot is probably thrown out the very most because we're always sharing websites and things like that.
For sure. Shall we do a business role play here, Michelle?
We are coworkers in a meeting. Yeah. Okay, let's do it.
All right, so we need to make sure we really proofread everything before it's sent out.
We have to make sure we don't miss anything, all periods, commas, semicolons.
It all has to be perfect. Got it, of course.
And whoever is writing it, please stop making the dots on your J's and I's hearts.
It's unprofessional, period. Agreed. Also, I'm 99.99999% sure the slides have been sent ahead of time.
Oh, good point. Cute, cute. I like it. All right.
So here I am saying, hey, we got to clean up our act here, guys, right?
We need to be better about our punctuation, periods, commas and semicolons.
Everything has to be perfect. Yes. Right.
And then I said, whoever is writing it, please stop making the dots on your J's and I's hearts.
Lindsay, talk to us about that. I laughed because this is business English.
It sounds like something someone would have done in middle school.
It's something you might do in middle school.
Sometimes people do that. You please a heart.
We don't carry that into our careers, obviously.
Then I said, it's unprofessional, period. right and there you're using the expression period and you're saying there's no counter argument to what i've just said right and i like that i like the use of that i think that's interesting it's unprofessional you also mentioned at the beginning of the episode we might say it's unprofessional full stop but here for some reason period feels feels right yeah period and then what did i say you said also i'm 99.9999 i might have just said i'm 99.9 sure the slides have to be sent ahead of time right how far you go depends on how much patience people have in front right right right right right exactly yeah and then just a bonus you said oh good point so here we're not actually talking about the what you know what we're all talking about here.
This is a different context of point a different meaning.
Oh, and I think actually, we need to do a whole other episode on responding.
Oh, good point. Because that is used all the time in business English, Michelle.
Right? Did we did we already record to your point?
Did we record that? I think we did. I think that one's coming out somewhere around this time.
But Good Point is a great response. So let's do another point episode.
Yeah, this is a superpower way of affirming what someone has said, acknowledging that you're going to.
Anyways, we'll go into it. But guys, hit the follow button on Business English so you don't miss it.
Right, Michelle? Yes, yes, yes, yes. All right, Lindsay, what's the takeaway for today? well this is important because these dots these periods they're everywhere and so you want to make sure you don't mix them up right we're never going to say www.allersenglish.com no right you need to know that okay exactly well so we gave you some ways to delineate these how are they different how are they similar but we really We really put them in their separate bins and you're good to go.
So go on off and use them. And yeah, period.
And special thank you to, was it Velcon who asked this question?
Thank you so much, guys. We love your questions.
You can send your great questions over to Lindsay at allearsenglish.com spelled with an A-Y.
And we can't wait to get your questions, guys.
Good stuff. All right, Michelle. Okay. All right.
You have a good day. I'll talk to you soon.
All right. Bye. You too. Bye. Thank you. tap the link in the show notes.
Remember, we believe in connection, not perfection when it comes to learning English.
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