2 spaces or 1 after a period
What's the correct answer? After a period, how many spaces should you use one or two?
I've been using one for a while, but I was taught two and I was curious as to why there was a change and what's actually correct.
Two spaces after a period was taught to those that learned on a typewriter because of the way a typewriter spaces individual letters. The typewriter treated each letter the same giving each letter the same amount of space. Because there is so much extra spacing in the typewritten monospace font, people using typewriters needed the extra space after punctuation to indicate a full stop, such as a period, question mark, or exclamation point.
Now, with word processors, each letter is treated differently and automatically spaced individually eliminating the need to add additional space at the end of a sentence. It's called proportional typesetting. It puts the same amount of space between all letters no matter how wide they are, so you don't end up with varying spaces between letters. Using two spaces can actually distort your sentences the way the word processors automatically figure out spacing.
Still not a believer. The four major style guides all recommend one space.
Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications
The Chicago Manual of Style
The Associated Press Stylebook
The Gregg Reference Manual
The other thing that using two spaces says is, "I'm from the typewriter generation and I'm doing it because I've always done it."
I've been using one for a while, but I was taught two and I was curious as to why there was a change and what's actually correct.
Two spaces after a period was taught to those that learned on a typewriter because of the way a typewriter spaces individual letters. The typewriter treated each letter the same giving each letter the same amount of space. Because there is so much extra spacing in the typewritten monospace font, people using typewriters needed the extra space after punctuation to indicate a full stop, such as a period, question mark, or exclamation point.
Now, with word processors, each letter is treated differently and automatically spaced individually eliminating the need to add additional space at the end of a sentence. It's called proportional typesetting. It puts the same amount of space between all letters no matter how wide they are, so you don't end up with varying spaces between letters. Using two spaces can actually distort your sentences the way the word processors automatically figure out spacing.
Still not a believer. The four major style guides all recommend one space.
Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications
The Chicago Manual of Style
The Associated Press Stylebook
The Gregg Reference Manual
The other thing that using two spaces says is, "I'm from the typewriter generation and I'm doing it because I've always done it."