How sentences are detected
Counting full stops would make “Dr. Lee arrived at 9.30 a.m.” three sentences. This counter looks at what follows each punctuation mark and knows the patterns that do not end a sentence:
- common abbreviations and titles: Mr., Mrs., Dr., Prof., St., e.g., i.e., etc., vs., approx., Jan.–Dec. and others;
- initials such as “J. K.”;
- decimals, times, version numbers and web addresses with no space after the dot;
- an ellipsis or a full stop followed by a lowercase word;
- dotted abbreviations like “U.S.” unless the next word clearly starts a new sentence (“The”, “It”, “We”…).
Question marks, exclamation marks, the interrobang and the Chinese and Japanese full stop (。) all end sentences. Closing quotation marks and brackets stay with the sentence they close. A heading or list item on its own line is counted as one sentence even without punctuation.
Using the list
The table shows every sentence with its word and character count. Sort it longest first to find the sentences most worth splitting, or use the Sentence Length Checker to highlight them in place.
A healthy mix matters more than a single average: a run of short sentences feels choppy, and several long ones in a row are hard to follow. Many style guides suggest averaging 15–20 words for general readers.
Worked example
Here is what the Sentence Counter returns for its built-in example. Settings used: List order: Document order. Click Try an example in the tool above to load it, then change it as you like.
Dr. Lee arrived at 9.30 a.m. on Monday. Was she late? No! She had read the notes, e.g. the summary and the appendix... Then the meeting began.| Result | Value |
|---|---|
| Sentences | 5 |
| Average length | 5.4 words |
| Longest | 11 words |
| Shortest | 1 words |
| Questions | 1 |
| Exclamations | 1 |
Questions
Does “e.g.” or “Dr.” end a sentence?
No. Common abbreviations, titles and initials are recognised and do not split a sentence.
What is a good average sentence length?
For general audiences, 15 to 20 words on average is a common target, with plenty of variation. Technical and academic writing often runs longer; marketing copy shorter.
Does it handle dialogue in quotes?
Yes. A closing quotation mark after the full stop stays with the sentence, so “Really.” is counted as one sentence.
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