AbstractInternal points were introduced in the literature of topological vector spaces to characterize the finest locally convex vector topology.
In this manuscript we generalize the concept of internal point in real vector spaces by introducing a type of points, called inner points, that allows us to provide an intrinsic characterization of linear manifolds, which was not possible by using internal points. We also characterize infinite dimensional real vector spaces by means of the inner points of convex sets. Finally, we prove that in convex sets containing internal points, the set of inner points coincides with the one of internal points.