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Spaces between sentences.

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How many spaces between sentences?

  • Single space after period.

  • Double space after period.

Results are only viewable after voting.
It depends. If you are using micro-justification, then you should use two spaces between sentences. If you are using a ragged-right margin, then you should use one space.

The main thing is that it should look right and be easy to read. In that sense, justification and two spaces should never be used, therefore one space is most often correct.
 
Paperdoc said:
In my view, the problem here is in the changing definition of "space". The classic rule is ONE space after a period before the next sentence. That works perfectly in the era of monospaced typewriters with pica (10 characters per inch) or elite (12) letter positions. But today almost all work is being done on word processing equipment that uses proportional spacing fonts - ones in which the width of a letter depends on the letter itself. In such fonts, a "space" is a narrow letter and gets, actually, LESS width than the "average" letter like "a" or "k". Its width is more like an "i" or "l". Hence, one such "space" actually looks not quite enough spacing between sentences. I believe, like many, that TWO such "spaces" makes the layout clearer and easier to read. So in today's world I use two spaces after a period. To me, that is the right way to accomplish what was the aim of the old original rule - clarity of the written document.
Click to expand...

That's completely the opposite of correct in regards to monospaced type.
 
tynopik said:
double spacing went out with the typewriter

everyone who claims to have been taught double space is dating themselves
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My high school keyboarding class (around 1998) still taught double spacing. Even college professors (Ohio State) commented they wanted two spaces.

So I have always done two spaces.
 
Jeeebus said:
Always two (in the legal world). One spaced typing in legal memos/motions/etc. is high up on my pet peeves list.
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chicago manual of style says one space.

this paragraph made me laugh when i was looking into this:
Let me put it to you this way: if I told you that Erie Railroad Co. v. Tompkins was the case where the guy was trying to board a moving train and dropped a package of explosives (happens all the time) which caused some scales to be thrown down (whatever the hell that means) causing injury to the plaintiff, you might say, “Hey, bozo. You’re thinking of the wrong first-year railroad case. It was Palsgraf v. Long Island Railroad Co.” You might be pretty sure of it, or maybe you’re not so sure. But you wouldn’t just rely on your foggy memory or poll your friends and colleagues to find who was right; you’d get your Google on and you’d look at the actual case. (And you’d find out that you were right; it was Palsgraf.)
Click to expand...
 
this is the first time I hear about double spacing. I've never seen anyone do that in my whole life and I had computer writing courses in school, even with old people.

EDIT: wikipedia says the french never used double spacing in the first place, it's an anglo thing.

I read a bit about it and apparently it's something you had to do with typewriters.
I also found this:
punct01.gif


so basically it's for old farts.

Double spacing is going the way of the dodo due to HTML and modern conventions that say only one is acceptable anyway, so this debate will die.
 
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ElFenix said:
chicago manual of style says one space.

this paragraph made me laugh when i was looking into this:
Click to expand...

Just confirmed my lawyerly nerdiness. Started reading that paragraph and immediately said to myself "isn't that Palsgraf?"

Never dealt with the Chicago manual of style in law school. All I can say is 99% of legal memos, motions, briefs, etc. have two spaces between sentences. I, for one, will not change.
 
Caveman said:
Two is correct formal usage. This started changing about 15 years ago... There is an evolution to one (this is often justified with texting, etc...). You can generally assume that people who "know" that single space is correct are under 40 years old.
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Single spacing was the correct standard by the 1950s.
 
You can't even double space in Word. It'll autocorrect to 1. Well, I guess you could change the autocorrect preferences, but that should tell you what is the accepted standard.
 
I was taught to use two spaces back in the early 80's and continue to type that way. I seem to be able to read without running sentences together better with the extra space. It's a more obvious separation of sentences and ideas to me.

I can see the logic of two spaces going away, though, just like the idea of indenting each paragraph did.
 
I basically write for a living. The "correct" answer is one, but I always put two because I think it looks better.

MotionMan
 
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