Hi, Alexander!  Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:

AH>  Homework, BTW, is not countable but homework assignments
AH>  are.

AK>  A good piece of information. ;-)


           Glad you found it useful....  :-)



AH>  "Etc." is an abbreviation which calls for a period, but
AH>  you're also asking a question here.  AFAIC it's okay to
AH>  use a period followed by a question mark in such cases.

AK>  But when I asked my question with "etc" I didn't use
AK>  quotes, did I?


           No, you didn't.  Perhaps my response was confusing... but I see you know how to employ them in making reference to a word or an abbreviation.  :-)



AK>  So my quostion was correct?
            |question


           Looking at the punctuation, I'd have written:

               Do you have school tests on grammar rules etc.?



AK>  Another sentence can be:
AK>  Do you have a special rule on "etc."?


           Yes, that works.  And no, I don't.  I understand native speakers of English find it easier to get the letters in the right order, however, if they know "etc." is short for "et" (and) + "cetera" (the rest)....  :-)



AK>  Also: AFAIK


           Uh-huh.  AFAIC & AFAIK are similar but not identical.

           AFAIC = As Far As I'm Concerned, meaning I am stating an opinion or personal preference.  (While I've seen no evidence of it myself I imagine some folks might argue that because the periods are often left out of various other abbreviations nowadays they can leave out the period with "etc." too.  And not evverybody agrees about how to handle end punctuation in various cases).  :-))

           AFAIK = As Far As I Know, meaning I'm stating a fact as I see it.




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+