Does APA require one or two spaces after a period?
Use one space after a period (or other punctuation mark at the end of a sentence) when writing in APA Style. However, if your instructor or non-APA publisher has other requirements (e.g., to use two spaces), follow their specifications. This guidance has been revised from the 6th edition. American Psychological Association. (2019).
When do you double space after a period?
Unless you are typing on an actual typewriter, you no longer have to put two spaces after a period. Or a question mark. Or an exclamation point. The rule applies to all end punctuation. Just one space. Really. Yes, really. Here’s why: Back when we used typewriters, every character was given the exact same amount of space on the page.
How long does it usually take to start a period?
How long after pubic hair does menstruation start? Signs that your period is on its way are if you've grown underarm and pubic hair. Typically, you'll start your periods about 2 years after your breasts start growing and about a year after getting a white vaginal discharge.
How many spaces after a period in MLA format?
The 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.
How many spaces after a period?
When to use single space?
When did the two space rule start?
About this website
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.
Do you still put 2 spaces after a period?
Unless you are typing on an actual typewriter, you no longer have to put two spaces after a period. Or a question mark. Or an exclamation point. The rule applies to all end punctuation.
How many spaces should be after a period?
one spaceLeave 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.
Why two spaces after period is wrong?
Today nearly every font on your PC is proportional. (Courier is the one major exception.) Because we've all switched to modern fonts, adding two spaces after a period no longer enhances readability, typographers say. It diminishes it.
When did 1 space after period change?
Nearly all style guides agree that one space is correct. 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.
Do you put a space after three dots?
An ellipsis is a set of three periods ( . . . ) indicating an omission. Each period should have a single space on either side, except when adjacent to a quotation mark, in which case there should be no space.
Does APA 7 require 2 spaces after a period?
Use one space after a period (or other punctuation mark at the end of a sentence) when writing in APA Style. However, if your instructor or non-APA publisher has other requirements (e.g., to use two spaces), follow their specifications.
Why do people put one space after a period?
(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. Today's word-processing software makes fonts proportional, though, which is why we only need one space.
How many spaces after a full stop Oxford?
single spacesUse single spaces after a full stop, not double spaces. Commas (Oxford/Harvard) An Oxford comma is one used before an 'and' at the end of a list and is used to avoid ambiguity: The family meal was soup, fish and chips, and ice cream.
Why do some people use double space?
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 many times do you space after a question mark?
Question marks go at the end of sentences that are questions. As with full stops you do not put a space before a question mark, but you do need at least one space after one (two spaces for purists).
How many spaces is a tab?
Generally, a tab is the same width as 4 to 5 spaces provided the font being used equally sizes each character. For example, the Courier font's tab equals 5 spaces, whereas the Arial font is 11 spaces to each tab when the font size for both is set to 12.
Does APA 7 require 2 spaces after a period?
Use one space after a period (or other punctuation mark at the end of a sentence) when writing in APA Style. However, if your instructor or non-APA publisher has other requirements (e.g., to use two spaces), follow their specifications.
How do I put two spaces after a period in word?
Choose Preferences. Select Spelling & Grammar from the box. Click the Settings button next to Grammar & Refinements. Next to Space Between Sentences, choose between don't check, single space, and double space.
Why do some people use double space?
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 many spaces after a full stop Oxford?
single spacesUse single spaces after a full stop, not double spaces. Commas (Oxford/Harvard) An Oxford comma is one used before an 'and' at the end of a list and is used to avoid ambiguity: The family meal was soup, fish and chips, and ice cream.
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.
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...
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.
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.
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.
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?
The point is, it's not only widely accepted, it's expected that you use only one space after a period. Sorry two-spaces, it's time to make the switch.
Why do we have two spaces after a period?
A: The "two spaces after period" rule was established during the days of typesetters, when additional space was needed to show the difference between the spacing between words (which was smaller) and the spacing between sentences (which was larger). When typewriters came around, they had only one font and all the letters were monospaced, or took up the same amount of space. That means that the skinny “l” and wider “w” occupied the same amount of space on paper. People mimicked what they believed to be the format they'd grown used to by adopting two spaces after a period—and that's how the so-called two-space rule was born.
How to replace double spaces with single spaces?
QUICK TIP FOR THOSE WHO USE TWO SPACES: If you are someone who can't break your two spaces after a period habit, have no fear! Simply write as you always would (with two spaces) and, when you are finished, got to the toolbar of your word processing program, click EDIT > FIND > REPLACE, and then choose to replace all double spaces with single spaces. Problem solved!
Do you always use a single space after a period?
And, according to nearly all stylebooks, including The Associated Press Stylebook and the Chicago Manual of Style, you always use a single space after a period.
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 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.
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.
How many spaces after a period on a typewriter?
Of course, if you're still using a typewriter, feel free to continue putting two spaces after a period. (And don't forget to change the ribbon now and then.)
Why is there a second space in a sentence?
With modern word-processing programs, a second space is not only inefficient (requiring an extra keystroke for each sentence) but potentially troublesome: it can cause problems with line breaks. In most cases, computers use proportional fonts so that a single keystroke creates the proper space between sentences.
Do you put a period after a knackered?
In either case, don't insert a space between the period and the closing quotation mark.
Do you put two spaces after a period?
If you grew up using a typewriter, you were probably taught to put two spaces after a period (a practice called English spacing ). But like the typewriter itself, that custom went out of fashion many years ago.
How Many Spaces Go After a Period?
When in doubt, always use one space after a period. The majority of word processors recognize this as the correct way. Also, almost all of the most used style guides advise this, including:
How many em spaces are there in a sentence?
Printers loosely followed style guides that stated sentences should be em-spaced (which is approximately the width of a capital letter M) and words must be 1/3 or 1/2 em-spaced.
Why was spacing variable?
Back then, spacing was highly variable to account for any size of spaces and to allow for consistent justification (how spaces between words and letters are adjusted to align the ends of consecutive lines).
Why do typographers use two spacers?
While modern typographers prefer the single-space method because of its continuity and seamlessness, “two spacers” claim that extra spaces after sentences are better for distinguishing a complete thought and marking the end of a sentence.
Why do magazines use single space?
Perhaps it’s a way to cram more letters into a page and simplify manuscripts, or maybe it’s simply an aesthetic change. The exact reasons are unclear and still up for debate.
Do you add spaces after a period?
This is why, for those who were taught to use the typewriter at school, adding two spaces after a period was the norm.
Is sentence spacing a controversy?
Of all the issues people debate about today, you’d be surprised that sentence spacing is among the fiercest controversies, to the point that researchers felt it needed to be studied.
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).
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.”
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 appropriate to use two spaces?
The whole point of using two spaces relied on using fixed-width fonts. Single spaces only became standard when variable-width fonts became standard, so it makes no sense to use a fixed-width font to determine whether two spaces is appropriate. We already know it is. In fact, perhaps the only thing we can all agree on is that two spaces is appropriate with fixed-width fonts like typewriter text.
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.
