NationStates Jolt Archive

For nearly two decades I thought that at the end of a sentence you were supposed to put one space. It wasn't until a fateful day in English class a couple weeks ago that that dogma was shaken up quite a bit. It turns out that nearly everyone used two spaces as a opposed --- when I polled my class it turned out, incidentally, the ratio of votes for two spaces to one was 2:1. So finally I asked the teacher, who nonchalantly replied that, "of course", it was two.

I was shocked and horrified. All my life I had used one space at the end of a sentence. Was I now to assume that I was supposed to use two? Had I done about 7% more work writing essays than everyone else in class? Would my college thesis now be (comparitively) 10 to 15 pages shorter? What is the world coming to? What kind of laziness is two spaces after a sentence?

But I digress. The question, my fellow NSers, is do you use two spaces or one at the end of sentences, or does it depend on the project?

Commence with discussion.

i was always taught you are supposed to put in two, but i don't think i actually am accurate about that all the time. i know that my word processing software automatically corrects my typing to put in two spaces, though.

Interesting, what software do you use?

Either way works. One space is acceptable in many legal documents these days, and is not unknown to be unaccepted in scientific papers as well.

Interesting: The second paragraph I typed with two spaces after each sentence for dramatic affect, but apparently Jolt didn't like that. Go figure.

Interesting, what software do you use?
microsoft word and sometimes wordperfect. though this computer used to be my dad's, so he may have farked around with the settings on autocorrect...i know he changed some of the spelling autocorrects, so he might also have changed the spacing stuff.

Um I've only ever heard and used one space. Is there a difference between the rule in the US and Commonwealth countries?

I'm very very afraid.

I believe most forum software is designed to strip multiple spaces to prevent people from using them to make tables and tabs and annoying stuff like that.

I'm a permanent member of the two-space enders. I believe it makes for clearer separation of thoughts. One space just makes it look all packed together.

. . . . but maybe that's just . . . . . me.

Interesting: The second paragraph I typed with two spaces after each sentence for dramatic affect, but apparently Jolt didn't like that. Go figure.

the forum software will automatically replace any set of consecutive spaces with one space, to prevent people from holding down the spacebar in order to strech our the screen. (it's a lot easier to see who the culprit is if their characters are visible)

however, i've always been taught that two spaces were needed. i guess it's up to you.

[edit] see? it changed the two spaces to one space in that last paragraph

I was taught to use two spaces.

I've used two spaces for as long as I can remember. FWIW, I recently mentally complained that something I was reading used only one space because everything looked squeezed in and hard to read.

Edit: Hah, Fascist Squirrels's response was there when I was taken back here after posting. We must've clicked "Submit Reply" rather close together. :D

I've always used two spaces. Some other formatting debates I've enountered are with font size, type, and line spacing. You'd be surprised how many kids came in with up to size 16 font and double spacing in their summer essays when I was in seventh grade. And fonts like wide latin. Ugh, it was disgraceful. The teachers accepted them, too, only giving a "don't do it again" talk. They even encouraged the double spacing. I was pissed. I was a seventh grader doing two single spaced, size 12 font pages on a single dinky little book, while some people went two pages, double spaced, and size 14 font. :headbang:

It's two spaces you heretics!

One space. It will always be one space. Anyone who puts two spaces is misinformed.

Correct English usage requires two spaces between a period and the next sentence, always and forever. Software is indeed the culprit responsible for de-educating millions.

Also, if you are ending a sentence with "etc." you should use two periods (one for the "etc." and one to end the sentence). Edit: this is the way it used to be, although current sources are now suggesting that if a sentence ends in a period (an abbreviation, for example) you need not follow it with another period. This does, however, make things unclear at times.

And an ellipsis (the three dots...) at the end of a sentence is the same as the "etc." i.e. in the middle of a sentence you use three dots...but at the end of a sentence you use four dots....

One space, and one space ONLY!!!

What is with you people and using two spaces?

One space. It will always be one space. Anyone who puts two spaces is misinformed.

It may seem like that to your simple one-space mind, but once you learn the ways of two spaces you will never go back.

People that use two spaces will be given the keys to the pearly gates when the day of reckoning is upon us! Repent!

Traditionally, students in typing classes have been taught to put two spaces between sentences. In typewritten texts, one space between words was fine, but two spaces seemed necessary to make the break apparent. To be strictly accurate, only one standard word space should be inserted between the end of one sentence and the start of the next. However, strict application of this rule in the world of automated composing systems can cause readability problems, because several factors affect how the spaces appear in the composed text. The issue of spacing between sentences should be decided for individual typing jobs, not applied across all projects as a standard. If readability won't suffer, only one space should appear between sentences; if readability is an issue, two spaces can be used. Whichever choice you make, ensure that it is implemented uniformly throughout the text.

from dictionary.reference.com

I have never even heard of the idiotic idea of using two spaces. :confused:

I have never even heard of the idiotic idea of using two spaces. :confused:


why not?

one space to seperate words.

two spaces to separate sentences

makes sense

For nearly two decades I thought that at the end of a sentence you were supposed to put one space. It wasn't until a fateful day in English class a couple weeks ago that that dogma was shaken up quite a bit. It turns out that nearly everyone used two spaces as a opposed --- when I polled my class it turned out, incidentally, the ratio of votes for two spaces to one was 2:1. So finally I asked the teacher, who nonchalantly replied that, "of course", it was two.

I was shocked and horrified. All my life I had used one space at the end of a sentence. Was I now to assume that I was supposed to use two? Had I done about 7% more work writing essays than everyone else in class? Would my college thesis now be (comparitively) 10 to 15 pages shorter? What is the world coming to? What kind of laziness is two spaces after a sentence?

But I digress. The question, my fellow NSers, is do you use two spaces or one at the end of sentences, or does it depend on the project?

Commence with discussion.

2 spaces, WTF? I allways use 1 space. 2 spaces is just wrong!

Back in the days of typewriter (which generally used the same font size and type, along with each character having the exact same spacing, also known as kerning), it was required to type two spaces after a period so that you could differentiate between merely a space between words and the start of a new sentence.

With the advent of the word processor and later the computer along with font styles that no longer used the same kerning between characters, it no longer became necessary to use two spaces to separate sentences. You could clearly demonstrate that one sentence ended with the period and a new sentence began with one.

I guess the gist of this is that an English teacher wouldn't kill you for using two spaces, but you could use one and be correct. However, a student newspaper advisor will kick your fanny for using two spaces after a period!

I've always used two spaces to avoid paragraphs looking like run-on sentences, I haven't really thought there were other ways of doing things... :confused:

I didn't know this was such a controversial issue.

The general rule seems to be one space after commas, semicolons, etc., and two spaces after periods at the end of sentences.

MLA style- 2 spaces
APA style- 1 space
(at least that's why my professor told me)

I grew up using MLA, and now all of the sudden, APA has grown popular, and is going to replace MLA.


*grumble grumble*

Well, I've never put two and I sure as hell ain't gonna start now. Not ever. Ever again.

Well, I've never put two and I sure as hell ain't gonna start now. Not ever. Ever again.

I have a written testimonial from your mother that last week you put two spaces after a period.

I always put two. I used to only put one, but two seems so much better and nicer and everything. I don't think we were taught two though...

I always put two. I used to only put one, but two seems so much better and nicer and everything. I don't think we were taught two though...

You did the right thing.

You did the right thing.

I'll change too. My college thesis looks a lot shorter now.

But honestly, isn't punctuation sufficient for telling you when a sentence is finished? What kind of lazy-assed skim reading fool needs double spaces at the end of a sentence to tell when it's over?

I learned to type two spaces after sentences when I took keyboarding class in high school, and I've done so ever since. I just think it makes paragraphs easier to read, but then maybe that's just me.

I was always taught that it was proper to use two spaces between sentences (I'm an American, in Ohio, if that means anything, for regional/national comparisons)

In fact, it is so ingrained into my psyche, I still type the two spaces between sentences on the internet, even though the second one is always removed... It's not just this forum, it happens in EVERY forum by default, unless it uses custom code to allow multiple spaces... In fact, it is the default behavior of most web browsers in general... They strip extra spaces from HTML unless you use the special "non-breaking space" macro ("(ampersand)nbsp", use the actual & symbol in place of that (ampersand), I only typed it that way to keep it from being parsed into an actual space...)

But anyways, like I said, I still type two spaces on the net, even though I know that the extra will be removed...

Of course, with my overuse (abuse, is more like it) of the ellipse, I can't be one to tout proper formatting skills, but meh...lol

Actually, I think one of the reasons I began using the ellipse so often is simply to add more whitespace between my sentences (which is the purpose of the two-space rule)... It's my personal way to get around the cramming brought by the removal of the second space...

So yeah, to all of you one-spacers: :p

[Edit:] And just to clear up the reason for the two spaces, it is (as I mentioned) to increase whitespace... Not just to signify the transition from one sentence to the next (punctuation is sufficient for that, of course)...

When reading something, whitespace is very necessary... It's the difference between the above, and this:

I was always taught that it was proper to use two spaces between sentences (I'm an American, in Ohio, if that means anything, for regional/national comparisons) In fact, it is so ingrained into my psyche, I still type the two spaces between sentences on the internet, even though the second one is always removed. It's not just this forum, it happens in EVERY forum by default, unless it uses custom code to allow multiple spaces. In fact, it is the default behavior of most web browsers in general. They strip extra spaces from HTML unless you use the special "non-breaking space" macro ("(ampersand)nbsp", use the actual & symbol in place of that (ampersand), I only typed it that way to keep it from being parsed into an actual space.) But anyways, like I said, I still type two spaces on the net, even though I know that the extra will be removed. Of course, with my overuse (abuse, is more like it) of the ellipse, I can't be one to tout proper formatting skills, but meh...lol Actually, I think one of the reasons I began using the ellipse so often is simply to add more whitespace between my sentences (which is the purpose of the two-space rule). It's my personal way to get around the cramming brought by the removal of the second space. So yeah, to all of you one-spacers: :p

See how hard it is to read a large chunk of text with no whitespace (newlines, larger sentence spaces, etc)?

It just makes things easier to read when there is more breaking it up... Paragraphing, double-spacing lines, and extra spaces between sentences are all means to do this...

Good question.

If the New York Times and the New Yorker agree, then I stand by their capable decision.

If they disagree, I assume the Times wins.

I use 3 spaces :D :D :eek: :D

sue me. :mp5: