I was reviewing and correcting an essay that my daughter was writing for school and she informed me that her teacher was instructing her to only put 1 space after a period before the begining of a new sentence. Which of course led to a long discussion about the subject and me telling my daughter to use 2 spaces and if her teacher counts her off for it I would set her teacher straight. The crux of the teacher's reasoning seemed to be that two spaces after the period is a holdover from the typewriter era and was only used because all letters on a type writer were the same width and the 2 spaces made it more readable. Her teacher seemed to think it was not necessary in today's digital world because characters do not all take the same amount of space and they are not needed for readability any more. Your thoughts? Am I an idiot for insisting that my daughter use 2 spaces no matter what her teacher instructs?
2 spaces or 1 space after period?
- Thread starter BvillePoker
- Start date
I only use one space and I think that is what I was taught in JB school (but it has been almost a decade). Not sure that is a battle I would want to fight with a teacher.
I hate to break it to you but 1 space is the new standard. If your daughter uses 2 spaces in high school or college she will likely get gigged for it. I learned this was a new standard when I went back to college after the military. I've also realized that when you enter the workforce some organizations have held on to the 2 spaces while others have moved on and implemented the 1 space. Just depends on where you work.
I think the space thing predates Twitter. I mean I'm 31 and I've never been taught to put two spaces after a sentence. You guys need to quit getting sucked in by the typewriter industrial complex.
I still use two spaces. That way people can know that I am old without having to embarass me with the question of my age.
Did you guys use typewriters? I'm only 31. Don't lump me into you and your ancient 33 years of age. 2 years makes a world of difference.
If it was good enough for Paul and Silas it's good enough for me. I guarantee your there are two space in the Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bible. If you internet boys want to one space your way straight to hell go ahead but we true Americans will keep two spacing.
Only communists use 1 space after a period. Of course, I am also a firm believer in the Oxford comma.
I just finished a 102,000 word dissertation and you're damn sure I used one space and you're damn sure all my students use one space.
Also: no extra line between paragraphs (unless single-spaced), indent first line of footnotes (just as in the body of the text), single space footnotes with extra space between them (Yeah! Chicago-Turabian Style!), Oxford comma, avoid "it," no contractions, do not start paragraphs with a sentence that starts with a clause, do not end paragraphs with an extended block quote (put at least one sentence after the block, then start a new paragraph)...other than that I'm pretty flexible about things.
Other big peeve: hyphenated nouns. Ex: "The Civil War was in the nineteenth-century" should be "The Civil War was in the nineteenth century." If you want to hyphenate that, then write, "The Civil War was a nineteenth-century conflict."
Also: no extra line between paragraphs (unless single-spaced), indent first line of footnotes (just as in the body of the text), single space footnotes with extra space between them (Yeah! Chicago-Turabian Style!), Oxford comma, avoid "it," no contractions, do not start paragraphs with a sentence that starts with a clause, do not end paragraphs with an extended block quote (put at least one sentence after the block, then start a new paragraph)...other than that I'm pretty flexible about things.
Other big peeve: hyphenated nouns. Ex: "The Civil War was in the nineteenth-century" should be "The Civil War was in the nineteenth century." If you want to hyphenate that, then write, "The Civil War was a nineteenth-century conflict."
I didn't even know this was a thing. Why would anybody waste the time and effort to double space?
I was taught two spaces in typing class also, but it did change with the wider use of computers. It adds a larger space after the period negating the need of two spaces.
I'm a graphic designer at a printing company and one of the first things I do when I receive files from customers is execute a find and replace on two spaces to replace with one. Then the same with tabs.
I'm a graphic designer at a printing company and one of the first things I do when I receive files from customers is execute a find and replace on two spaces to replace with one. Then the same with tabs.
I was taught two spaces, and no one in JB school at OSU ever corrected that. It was only at work that the issue came up, and I started making the effort to change. Now I can see it in emails and such, and the wasted space annoys me. How quickly things change.
That's still the rule for formal writing. We should come up for a consolidated style guide for message board posting. The NSB could be like the Chicago Manual of Style for internet spazzes.
I still do two spaces--and did in my dissertation, Anodyne....But aside from that, I'm with you. Turabian FTW, tab in the first line of footnotes, single space within and double space between, but I'm also picky in that I don't like folks who change the font size of footnotes to match the size of text. They should be smaller than the text. They aren't the star.
@ThePokewithNoName
I am glad I am not the only one. I will be 50 before the end of the year, and I had never even heard of the 2 space thing until recently. I took typing class in high school and was taught 1 space. For me, it has always been 1 space and always will be.
I am glad I am not the only one. I will be 50 before the end of the year, and I had never even heard of the 2 space thing until recently. I took typing class in high school and was taught 1 space. For me, it has always been 1 space and always will be.
I went to "Edit" post and checked. There's two spaces there after every period in that post. I have no clue why it doesn't look like it once you post. Two spaces after each sentence in this post as I type as well. Weird.