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09th Dec 2015

Turns Out Punctuation In Texting Matters More Than You Think

Maybe reconsider that full stop.

Ellen Tannam

Do you feel weird when you receive a text with a full stop at the end? Well, you’re not alone.

We all know that it’s really easy to get your wires crossed when texting. You can misinterpret a simple message into something else, and it can often mean the start of a royal fight.

A new study proves this theory further, with an emphasis on the importance of punctuation in how a text message is interpreted.

The study was held at the Binghamton University by Celia Klin and her team and they discovered that texts with a full stop at the end are interpreted as less sincere.

RUDE

Source: reactiongifs

The team recruited over a hundred students to read a series of messages that started with a question like “Are you heading out tonight?” followed by a one-word answer with a full stop at the end, “Yeah.” or no punctuation whatsoever.

The study shows the importance of punctuation in text-based communicating, and interestingly there was no difference in how the same sentences were received when they were hand written.

Klin told Mashable: “Given that people are wonderfully adept at communicating complex and nuanced information in conversations, it’s not surprising that as texting evolves, people are finding ways to convey the same types of information in their texts.”

So maybe leave out the full stop at the end of that next message.

Featured Image: iStock