Why using two spaces hurts your writing
- 1. It makes your writing look dated. Word processing has been around for a long time and we should update our writing to reflect current tools. The wonderful blog The Cult of Pedagogy explains this well in an article entitled, Nothing Says Over 40 Than Two Spaces after a Period! ...
- 2. Nearly all style guides agree that one space is correct.
Why you should never add two spaces after a period?
Why You Should Never, Ever Use Two Spaces Between Sentences. By Nicholas Jackson. ... Because we've all switched to modern fonts, adding two spaces after a period no longer enhances readability ...
Should you add one or two spaces after a period?
Leave one space after a period or other concluding punctuation mark, unless your instructor prefers two spaces. Whichever spacing you choose, be sure to use it consistently throughout your paper. See the MLA’s formatting guidelines for more information. How many spaces after a full stop Oxford? Two spaces after each full stop. Every time. Easy.
Are you supposed to put two spaces after a period?
Very few style guides advise using two spaces after a period. The APA, Chicago Manual of Style, AP and US Government Printing Office Style Manual all recommend a single space between sentences. The contemporary benefits of using it are few, aside from taking up more space on a page.
Should you ever put a space before a period?
There are even people who -- gasp -- put a space before "low" punctuation like periods and commas. While some of this comes across as sloppy Francophilia, there are people who opt for the space as a form of sentence cushioning, a way to decrease the (self-perceived) force behind their statements.
Why do we need double space?
Why do we need double space in sentences?
How many spaces are there between the end of a sentence and the beginning of another?
Is single space correct?
Is it better to give space bar a single tap?
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About this website
Is double space after period proper?
Just one. According to every major style guide you'll find, the rule is a single space after a period or any other punctuation mark you use to end a sentence. Even the APA, the staunchest defender of the double space over the decades, changed their stance on the issue in 2019.
When did 2 spaces after a period change?
From around 1950, single sentence spacing became standard in books, magazines, and newspapers, and the majority of style guides that use a Latin-derived alphabet as a language base now prescribe or recommend the use of a single space after the concluding punctuation of a sentence.
How many spaces after a period is legal?
two spaces1. Always place two spaces -- no more, no less -- after a period or other punctuation ending a sentence. This rule should be applied in all instances, including those where a citation follows the period.
Two Spaces After a Period or Just One? Please Get It Right!
In the The Complete Manual of Typography, author James Felici writes the early history of typing was an exercise in inconsistency.But in the early 20th century, European typesetters began to settle on a single space and America followed soon after. Most style manuals, including the Chicago Manual of Style, also advocate the single space.
How many spaces should I leave after a period? | MLA Style Center
Leave one space after a period or other concluding punctuation mark, unless your instructor prefers two spaces. Whichever spacing you choose, be sure to use it consistently throughout your paper. See the MLA’s formatting guidelines for more information.
When did it change from two spaces to one space after a period?
Answer (1 of 5): The rule changed when we switched from typewriters to word-processing software. Typewriters (most of them, at least) allowed the same horizontal space for every letter, no matter its actual width. A space was allotted the same width. You needed two spaces after a period to give a...
Why do we need double space?
Once considered an advanced form of technology themselves, older typewriters were known to produce uneven or unpredictable line spacing. A double space between the end of one sentence and the beginning of another helped to create some uniformity on the page, and made typed pages easier to read.
Why do we need double space in sentences?
Although there has been plenty of back-and-forth on the topic, a recent study may have concluded why many people still prefer seeing a double space between sentences: that extra space can help you read faster. While it may only cut down on reading time by a few seconds, some people can find that time invaluable.
How many spaces are there between the end of a sentence and the beginning of another?
These days, depending on what you’re reading, you can find either one or two spaces between the end of one sentence and the beginning of another.
Is single space correct?
According to the AP Stylebook, single-spacing is correct. The same goes for the Chicago Manual of Style. However, the Modern Language Association Style Center offers different advice, and suggests that writers use a single space after a period unless they have been explicitly told otherwise.
Is it better to give space bar a single tap?
Since either way can be considered correct, depending on the audience you’re writing for, the right answer seems to be to err on the side of caution and give that space bar a single tap. Not only is it the more widely acceptable method, it saves space (no pun intended) which can be especially important when working with limited character use—we’re looking at you, Twitter!
How many spaces after a period?
While there are many formal rules for punctuation marks and formatting, it’s easy to get tripped up on whether to use one or two spaces after a period. Learn why two spaces were originally used after a period and why the general rule today is to use one space after a period.
When to use single space?
Single spaces should also follow commas, as well as periods after abbreviations.
When did the two space rule start?
The two-space rule took hold in the early twentieth century and became the norm in many high school typing classes. Eventually, sophisticated typewriters and word processing software like Microsoft Word introduced proportional fonts, which made it easier to distinguish the period at end of a sentence as a full stop.
Why do you need two spaces after a period?
The extra space was needed to delineate the beginning of a new sentence because the spacing between words was uneven on a typewriter.
How many spaces after a period in APA?
The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA) was the only style guide that overtly recommended two spaces after a period, and even that long-time holdout for two spaces changed its guideline to one space in its 2019 update. The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers (MLA) waffles.
Why do typewriters use extra space after punctuation?
Because there is so much extra spacing in the typewritten monospace font, writers using typewriters needed the extra space after punctuation to indicate a full stop, such as a period, question mark, or exclamation point.
What is monospaced typesetting?
Typewriters gave every character the same space on the screen. This is called monospaced typesetting.
How to remove extra space in Word?
Use the "Find and Replace" option in your word processor (Control + F on most systems) to remove the extra space. In more recent versions of Word, look for the Replace in the Home ribbon at the top of the screen.
When did Microsoft change to one space?
Additionally, the American Psychological Association’s Publication Manual, after decades of recommending two spaces changed their recommendation to one space in its most recent update in October, 2019.
Is it correct to have two spaces after a period?
UPDATE: As of April 24, 2020, Microsoft has settled the great space debate, and sided with everyone who believes one space after a period is correct, not two. The software giant has started to update Microsoft Word to highlight two spaces after a period as an error, and to offer a correction to one space. Microsoft recently started testing this change with the desktop version of Word, offering suggestions through the Editor capabilities of the app.
Why is one space better than two?
But I actually think aesthetics are the best argument in favor of one space over two. One space is simpler, cleaner, and more visually pleasing. (It also requires less work, which isn’t nothing.) A page of text with two spaces between every sentence looks riddled with holes; a page of text with an ordinary space looks just as it should.
What is the one space rule?
It’s one of the canonical rules of the profession, in the same way that waiters know that the salad fork goes to the left of the dinner fork and fashion designers know to put men’s shirt buttons on the right and women’s on the left.
Why is there extra space in a monospaced typewriter?
Hence the adoption of the two-space rule—on a typewriter, an extra space after a sentence makes text easier to read.
How many spaces are there in a style guide?
Every major style guide—including the Modern Language Association Style Manual and the Chicago Manual of Style —prescribes a single space after a period. (The Publications Manual of the American Psychological Association, used widely in the social sciences, allows for two spaces in draft manuscripts but recommends one space in published work.)
How many spaces did typeetters use?
Hundreds of years ago, some typesetters would end sentences with a double space, others would use a single space, and a few renegades would use three or four spaces. Inconsistency reigned in all facets of written communication; there were few conventions regarding spelling, punctuation, character design, and ways to add emphasis to type.
When did monospaced fonts go out?
Here’s the thing, though: Monospaced fonts went out in the 1970s. First electric typewriters and then computers began to offer people ways to create text using proportional fonts. Today nearly every font on your PC is proportional. ( Courier is the one major exception.)
What does "space signals a pause" mean?
It’s a pure sign of amateur typography.” “A space signals a pause,” says David Jury, the author of About Face: Reviving The Rules of Typography. “If you get a really big pause—a big hole—in the middle of a line, the reader pauses. And you don’t want people to pause all the time. You want the text to flow.”.
Why are double spaces bad?
Typography scholars know the reason double spaces became standard is that typewriters use only fixed-width (or monospaced) fonts, so having two spaces between sentences made it easier to distinguish the sentences in text where an “i” takes up the same amount of space as “w.”
How fast can you read with two spaces?
Of course, there are a few hitches to this groundbreaking pronouncement, namely, that it’s based on a single study of 60 college students, where only the students who use double spaces themselves read text faster (a whopping 3% faster!) in a fixed-width font with two spaces instead of one after periods. (Basically, 100 minutes reading would become 97 minutes if the text used two spaces.)
How fast do two spacers read?
So the researchers did not appear to adjust their analysis to account for a priori preferences among their participants: one-spacers read the text almost equally as fast in both conditions, but two-spacers read slightly faster with two spaces. Total reading time for those natural two-spacers was 260 milliseconds (yes, milliseconds) with one space and 253 milliseconds with two spaces (a 2.7% difference).
Does spacing after a period affect reading speed?
Next, let’s consider what the researchers found: “Although the type of spacing following punctuation marks did not seem to have an effect on those individuals who type with one space after a period, those who type with two spaces after a period had greater reading speed when paragraphs were presented in the same way in which they type: with two spaces following periods and one space following commas.” (They also tested spacing with commas and found, unsurprisingly, that no one like two spaces after a comma. I don’t think we needed a study to tell us that.)
Can you have two spaces in a research paper?
Yes, yes, you would. The study doesn’t say whether the participants were from similar majors or a wide variety of majors, but differences in fields of study—especially since professors in certain fields (especially the sciences) often require two spaces in research papers—may also cause confounding.
Do one spacers read faster than two spacers?
So the researchers did not appear to adjust their analysis to account for a priori preferences among their participants: one-spacers read the text almost equally as fast in both conditions, but two-spacers read slightly faster with two spaces.
Is it irresponsible to draw broad conclusions from a single study?
Of course, even if this study were flawless (no study is), it’s irresponsible to draw broad conclusions from a single study’s findings. Science requires replication and a gradual accumulation of evidence, ideally pointing toward a consensus over time.
Why do they change from one space to two spaces following periods?
The new American Psychological Association style guidelines came out recently, and they had changed from one space to two spaces following periods because they claimed it “increased the readability of the text.”.
How many spaces after periods in text?
Nicholas Christakis, a professor at Yale University, wrote: “Hurray! Science vindicates my longstanding practice, learned at age 12, of using TWO SPACES after periods in text. NOT ONE SPACE. Text is easier to read that way. Of course, on Twitter, I use one space, given 280 characters.”
Why do we have two spaces in a sentence?
Her rationale for two spaces gets complex—verging into the domain of rather high-level psychophysical theory (email me). As the researchers explain it, it’s all about mechanics of the eye, and what causes us to trip up or pause, even for a split second. In the current study, when text was presented with two spaces after periods, some readers’ eyes were more likely to jump over the “punctuation region” and spend less unnecessary time fixated on it. The extra space seemed to make it easier for readers to “extract the lines and curves from the text.” The space also comes into the periphery of one’s vision before it arrives, and that helps to signal that the sentence is wrapping up.
Why do typewriters use the same space?
Typewriters allot the same amount of space for every character, so a narrow character like i gets as much as a wider character like w. (This is called a mono-spaced font.) With a typewriter, it makes sense to add an extra space to make it clear that the sentence has ended.
Why do we need extra space in a sentence?
The extra space seemed to make it easier for readers to “extract the lines and curves from the text. ”. The space also comes into the periphery of one’s vision before it arrives, and that helps to signal that the sentence is wrapping up.
What would happen if a change like this saved even a tiny amount of time?
This is a small difference, though if a change like this saved even a tiny amount of time, or prevented a tiny amount of miscommunication, the net benefit across billions of people could be enormous . Entire economies could be made or broken, wars won or lost.
How many spaces after a period?
Very few style guides advise using two spaces after a period. The APA, Chicago Manual of Style, AP and US Government Printing Office Style Manual all recommend a single space between sentences. The contemporary benefits of using it are few, aside from taking up more space on a page.
What to do if you cannot part with double space?
If you absolutely cannot part with your beloved double space, here's what you can do: When Word marks it as an error, right click to view your options. You can ask Word to ignore this issue when it comes up again or view every grammatical issue the software will mark and remove spacing from the list of errors.
How many spaces between sentences in APA?
The APA, Chicago Manual of Style, AP and US Government Printing Office Style Manual all recommend a single space between sentences. The contemporary benefits of using it are few, aside from taking up more space on a page.
Why do we need double space?
Once considered an advanced form of technology themselves, older typewriters were known to produce uneven or unpredictable line spacing. A double space between the end of one sentence and the beginning of another helped to create some uniformity on the page, and made typed pages easier to read.
Why do we need double space in sentences?
Although there has been plenty of back-and-forth on the topic, a recent study may have concluded why many people still prefer seeing a double space between sentences: that extra space can help you read faster. While it may only cut down on reading time by a few seconds, some people can find that time invaluable.
How many spaces are there between the end of a sentence and the beginning of another?
These days, depending on what you’re reading, you can find either one or two spaces between the end of one sentence and the beginning of another.
Is single space correct?
According to the AP Stylebook, single-spacing is correct. The same goes for the Chicago Manual of Style. However, the Modern Language Association Style Center offers different advice, and suggests that writers use a single space after a period unless they have been explicitly told otherwise.
Is it better to give space bar a single tap?
Since either way can be considered correct, depending on the audience you’re writing for, the right answer seems to be to err on the side of caution and give that space bar a single tap. Not only is it the more widely acceptable method, it saves space (no pun intended) which can be especially important when working with limited character use—we’re looking at you, Twitter!