One space or two spaces after a period in a sentence?
- Thread starter Cletus11
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I learned on a typewriter in high school (early 90's). It was always 2 spaces. I don't think I can unlearn the 2 spaces.
2 spaces til the day I die. Even it it's auto-corrected. I couldn't sleep at night leaving only one space between sentences. Even for you folk.
I graduated high school in ‘90. I don’t recall ever being taught two spaces and don’t recall ever using two spaces.
Really? That doesn’t make sense, seeing that you learned on a typewriter. Whatever. Have a good day.
Somewhat related question -- Is Elements of Style by White and Strunk still a useful guide for English usage and form?
Yes! I am a technical editor IRL. However, there may be stuff in there that has been superseded--as English is a living language. For example, in our guide, it's now "email" and disc is allowed (used to be e-mail and disk, except for CD's) as of this year. Our software eliminates extra spaces, so 2 spaces after a period cannot happen. Note that style may vary depending on the publisher. Newspapers tend to avoid the serial comma, for example, to save space. My employer has their own style for references (which identifies us for those who know the field).
Regarding serial commas, AKA Oxford commas:
http://blog.practicingitpm.com/2015/01/20/commas-zombies-punctuation-guide/
http://blog.practicingitpm.com/2015/01/20/commas-zombies-punctuation-guide/
Learned on an IBM Selectric in H.S. Two spaces. But found my way in the advertising and marketing agency world working with Macintosh computers beginning in 1991. Read the book 'The Mac is Not a Typewriter' and you'll see why it's one space when using modern word processors, not two.
From Amazon:
One of the most popular Macintosh books ever written, The Mac is not a typewriter has been called the "Strunk and White of typography." Best-selling author Robin Williams's (no, not THAT Robin Williams) simple, logical principles for using type to produce beautiful, professional documents are as true now as they were when the original edition was published in 1989. This updated edition includes new examples and expanded information dedicated to the practical advice that made the first edition an enduring bestseller. Throughout, Robin shows you the small details that separate the pros from the amateurs: typographer versus typewriter quotation marks, en and em dashes, tabs and indents, kerning, leading, white space, widows and orphans, and hanging punctuation. If you prepare documents, you'll find The Mac is not a typewriter, Second Edition an indispensable guide. And those who read your documents will recognize the work of a pro, even if they don't know a curly quote from curly fries.
From Amazon:
One of the most popular Macintosh books ever written, The Mac is not a typewriter has been called the "Strunk and White of typography." Best-selling author Robin Williams's (no, not THAT Robin Williams) simple, logical principles for using type to produce beautiful, professional documents are as true now as they were when the original edition was published in 1989. This updated edition includes new examples and expanded information dedicated to the practical advice that made the first edition an enduring bestseller. Throughout, Robin shows you the small details that separate the pros from the amateurs: typographer versus typewriter quotation marks, en and em dashes, tabs and indents, kerning, leading, white space, widows and orphans, and hanging punctuation. If you prepare documents, you'll find The Mac is not a typewriter, Second Edition an indispensable guide. And those who read your documents will recognize the work of a pro, even if they don't know a curly quote from curly fries.
Can I ask why there is only one space after each period in your post?
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I’ve made my peace with a single space after a period, but they would have to pry my Oxford comma from my cold, dead, and rigor-mortised hands.
Either you weren’t paying attention, or your typing teacher was a time traveler from 20+ years later.
I can guarantee I wasn’t paying attention.Either you weren’t paying attention, or your typing teacher was a time traveler from 20+ years later.
It's two spaces. Period. Given the median age of this board I'm not surprised the double-spacers outnumber the single-spacers significantly.
I post from my phone. Plus I'm not creating a technical document, so I don't care.
I do seem to remember this coming up some time ago and someone said the forum software removes extra spaces.
I learned a long time ago to give extra space BEFORE a period.....
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No, that’s for Kevin Bacon.
Gen Xers = FV(K it, man!!!
Not. necessarily.
Learned to type (on a computer, not a typewriter) using 2 so that's what I use. It's muscle memory at this point and a hard habit to break. I understand why in the current era where character limits on some electronic forms makes a case for changing to 1, but I'll likely never switch.
The Rivals software likely removes the extra space automatically. Many apps do this, I think Facebook is another example. I suspect they might do it to save on data storage space. Text doesn't take up much storage but when you have billions (trillions?) of empty characters it might add up to something meaningful.
Saving that one, weren’t you?I learned a long time ago to give extra space BEFORE a period.....
