Should you put one or two 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. 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.
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.
Why do people double space after a period?
Why do we double space after a period? Most modern lore cites typewriters as a practical explanation for the double-space habit. The logic goes: An extra space after a period helped distinguish one sentence from another in a typewriter’s fixed-width typeface (similar to the font Courier New).
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 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.
Are you there supposed to be 2 spaces after a period?
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.
Is double spacing after a period wrong?
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 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.
What is two spaces after a period called?
The debate over the number of spaces has waned over the years, but some adherents to the two-space convention (known as “two spacers”) argue the extra space signals the end of a complete thought more effectively.
When should you double space?
Double space: Your entire essay should be double spaced, with no single spacing anywhere and no extra spacing anywhere. There should not be extra spaces between paragraphs. Margins: According to the MLA, your essay should have a one-inch margin on the top, bottom, left, and right.
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.
Does Chicago style use two spaces after period?
Every major style guide--including the Modern Language Association Style Manual and the Chicago Manual of Style--prescribes a single space after a period.
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.
Does Chicago style use two spaces after period?
Every major style guide--including the Modern Language Association Style Manual and the Chicago Manual of Style--prescribes a single space after a period.
How many spaces should you have after a colon?
oneDespite what your teachers taught and typewriters required in decades past, the number of spaces after end punctuation–and after a colon–is one.
Should there be space before punctuation?
As a general rule, in English there is no space before and one space after a punctuation mark. Exceptions follow.
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.
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.”.
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 do we use two space in sentences?
To help readers more easily spot the ends of sentences, the two-space rule was put into effect—and for many, the habit stuck, even as typewriters gave way to computers that offered more proportionally spaced fonts, writes Ellen Gutoskey for Mental Floss. ( Courier fonts are a notorious exception.)
How fast do two spacers read?
As James Hamblin reported for the Atlantic at the time, researchers from Skidmore College found that two-spacers—those who already write with two spaces after periods—read 3 percent faster when a second space appears after a period. That difference is a very small one.
Is double spacer a demographic?
Still, the truth of the matter is that double-spacers are a rapidly disappearing demographic. As Avi Selk reported for the Washington Post in 2018, many proponents of the rule are traditionalists from the era of manual typewriters, which relied on monospaced type, with each character occupying an equal amount of horizontal space.
Who said "I plan to teach my kids never to reply to messages from people who put two spaces after?
Writing for the Atlantic, Hamblin has already clearly picked a side, stating, “I plan to teach my kids never to reply to messages from people who put two spaces after a period.”
Does Microsoft Word have double spaces?
Now, a veritable powerhouse has entered the fray—and definitively taken a side. As Tom Warren reports for the Verge, Microsoft Word has started marking double spaces between sentences as errors. Though the feature isn’t yet universal, the company has begun trialing the change in desktop versions of the program and will likely be rolling it out to all users soon.
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 have to hit the space key twice?
Once upon a time, you had to hit the space key not once but twice in order to put the correct amount of space between a period and the next letter. Typewriters tended to use monospaced fonts, which have the same amount of horizontal space between every character. Periods sometimes got lost, so the convention of putting two spaces in was established.
How many times do you hit the space bar after a sentence?
Some people hit the space bar twice after they finish typing a sentence. In modern word processors, this results in two spaces after your period. You need to tap once in order to get the space after the period. If you don’t, Word or Pages or whatever program you happen to be using will tell you you’ve got a spelling error, as the final word of the previous sentence and the first word of the next are run together—that is, all the characters (including the period) are flush up against one another.
Why Did It Ever Become a Thing?
As mentioned, typewriters used monospaced fonts. Since all the letters take up the same amount of space, they tend to have a lot of space between them. That gives the text a much more open appearance. And in all that open space, it can be difficult to see where a tiny little period is. Adding the second space makes the end of a sentence much more apparent.
How does hairline space work in typesetting?
We work with hairline spaces, something not available to those using a typewriter or even the average Word user today. We can increase the amount of space between characters by “a hair,” which often stops letters from bumping into each other. It can give them more room. A good example is writing “of World War II”: in some typefaces, with tighter kerning, the f and the W would touch. I would call for a hairspace to move them apart just enough that they didn’t touch.
Is there a space on a typewriter?
The typewriter didn’t offer users this kind of nuance: It was either a space or no space. The solution is still to add more space, but typewriters didn’t have a “little bit of space” setting; you either added a whole en-space or nothing.
Can you see where spaces are in Word?
Editors and proofreaders will notice it relatively quickly. If you want to see for yourself, you can always turn on “invisibles” —the characters in word processors that show you where your spaces are, where soft breaks are, and where hard breaks are. (Pro tip: If you’re editing, always turn your invisibles on. I don’t work without them.)
Do two spaced periods end up in a book?
Nonetheless, some slip through. Some get by the copy editor. They end up in the proofs. And some of them, yes, even end up in a book or a journal. But they shouldn’t be there. Ever. Typesetters have no reason for them, so no one else should either. Contrary to that one flawed study, they don’t actually make reading faster or easier.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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!
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 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).
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.)
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.
How to change spacing between sentences in Word?
To change the setting, open any Word document and click File > Options. Next, select Proofing > Settings. Scroll down to the “Punctuation Conventions” section, change the “Spaces Between Sentences” to “Two Spaces,” and then click the “OK” button. Advertisement.
Is it a typo to have two spaces after a period?
Microsoft has confirmed that it will start marking double spaces as a typo, so if you’re keen on the two-space side of the argument, you’ll soon find out that your righteous two spaces after a period are suddenly sullied by a red dotted line. RELATED: How to Change Double Spaces to Single Spaces in Microsoft Word.
Is it common to have two spaces in a sentence?
Up until 20 years ago, thanks to typewriters, it was common to see sentences written with two spaces the period. At long last, Microsoft Word has started marking double spaces as an error by default. If you’re a two-spacer who hates this idea, here’s how to prevent it from happening.
