Hpw many spaces after commas and periods?

benbradley · May 20, 2007

The dashes-and-commas thread got me thinking of this, and it's only been on my mind for about 30 years. With onscreen variable-character-width fonts and word processors that do so many fancy things, this may be less important than it used to be. I think this mainly or almost exclusively applies to manuscripts (and other text in monospaced fonts), text types on actual typewriters, and plain "ASCII text" files. Is this mentioned or discussed in any style manual? I've browsed through a few and don't recall seeing it.

How many spaces do you put after a comma, one or two?

How many spaces do you put after a period (or other sentence-ending punctuation), one or two?

Is there somewhere where you would use three or more spaces?

I recall "learning" about spaces in college. Programming languages didn't care except that the literally repeated what was within quotemarks, so most people didn't add any more spaces in their programs than necessary. But I was also on one of the earlier computer discussion "forums" and noticed that some people in their written text actually added a space after their commas. How totally uneeded, I thought, but I did notice it tended to increase readability over not doing so. But then that meant I was going to have to type a space after every comma...

Deleted member 42 · May 20, 2007

One space after a comma, colon, or semi-colon.

If you are using a proportionately spaced font like Times New Roman, then one space after a period. If you are using Courier or another monospaced font, then two spaces after a period.

jhtatroe · May 20, 2007

As someone who had the crap job at a publisher of searching poorly formatted manuscripts to replace period-space-space with period-space, I now always follow punctuation with a single space.

Anthony Ravenscroft · May 20, 2007

Seven.

Actually, some of us are overjoyed to tears when the files don't end every bedamned line with a hard EOL....

(For some reason, my Word won't recognise these -- the "down-then-left arrow" symbol -- so they need to be replaced manually.)

scarletpeaches · May 21, 2007

I've only ever pressed space once after a full stop. Must be an American thing.

But I do like plenty of space after my period, though.

MidnightMuse · May 22, 2007

I think the two-space after a hard stop thing is from the old typewriter days. We were taught that in school typing classes, but no one does it now.

and what Scarlet said

Dave.C.Robinson · May 22, 2007

I was taught two spaces after a period myself, but I was using a manual typewriter in those days too. It's a really hard habit for me to break these days (actually find it easier to type that way then just search and replace to get rid of the extras.)

joyce · May 22, 2007

Of course I'm as old as dirt, but I still use the two spaces after a period. It's a habit that I find hard to break (old typewriter days). I can't remember who was the agent, but I was just reading about this. The agent said that they liked two spaces after the period ending a sentence because it made the manuscript easier to read.

WildScribe · May 22, 2007

I always do one space on a finished manuscript, but I have to search and replace because I was taught to use two spaces in school and it is hard wired BIG TIME.

scarletpeaches · May 22, 2007

Doesn't word space a manuscript that way automatically?

I guess if your book's good enough no-one's going to say, "Well golly-gee, I was gonna take on this wonderful writer, but they only used one space after each full stop!"

Dave.C.Robinson · May 22, 2007

I don't know if Word inserts the second space automatically or not. I for one turn off every auto-format/auto-correct option I can find as soon as I find them.

maestrowork · May 22, 2007

One space.

Duncan J Macdonald · May 22, 2007

scarletpeaches said:
Doesn't word space a manuscript that way automatically?

Word can be set either way. It will then flag all non-conforming ". " with the dreaded green squiggly line.

Duncan J Macdonald · May 22, 2007

maestrowork said:
One space.

One after a comma, two after a full stop. Be consistent, and let the house style rule the final disposition.

formlit · May 22, 2007

benbradley said:
The dashes-and-commas thread got me thinking of this, and it's only been on my mind for about 30 years. With onscreen variable-character-width fonts and word processors that do so many fancy things, this may be less important than it used to be. I think this mainly or almost exclusively applies to manuscripts (and other text in monospaced fonts), text types on actual typewriters, and plain "ASCII text" files. Is this mentioned or discussed in any style manual? I've browsed through a few and don't recall seeing it.

How many spaces do you put after a comma, one or two?

How many spaces do you put after a period (or other sentence-ending punctuation), one or two?

Is there somewhere where you would use three or more spaces?

I recall "learning" about spaces in college. Programming languages didn't care except that the literally repeated what was within quotemarks, so most people didn't add any more spaces in their programs than necessary. But I was also on one of the earlier computer discussion "forums" and noticed that some people in their written text actually added a space after their commas. How totally uneeded, I thought, but I did notice it tended to increase readability over not doing so. But then that meant I was going to have to type a space after every comma...

1 space. I haven't taken thsese typing classes others here have. but than, i barely know what a typewriter looks like.

Dave.C.Robinson said:
I don't know if Word inserts the second space automatically or not. I for one turn off every auto-format/auto-correct option I can find as soon as I find them.

hehe. me too

Adam Israel · May 22, 2007

I've always used two spaces after a period. Lately I've been noticing more stories (particularly some of Corey Doctorow's work) following the one space rule. Do editors/publishers get hung up on the "extra" space? Unless it's specifically mentioned in the guidelines I'll continue to use the two spaces (unless someone beats me over the head with a clue bat). I'm not opposed to adapting to the current style but I don't want to do so prematurely.

formlit · May 22, 2007

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:Manual_of_Style_archive_(spaces_after_a_full_stop/period)

i found this link where this is discussed. it seems to be about a year old.

scarletpeaches · May 22, 2007

Bit difficult to take the conversation seriously when so many people posting on that link can't even spell so why they're arguing about spaces after full stops puzzles me.

Duncan J Macdonald · May 23, 2007

scarletpeaches said:
Bit difficult to take the conversation seriously when so many people posting on that link can't even spell so why they're arguing about spaces after full stops puzzles me.

Did I spell "squiggly" wrong?

maestrowork · May 23, 2007

It's funny. Looking at all the posts in this thread, I see that everyone used one space after a period/full stop. In the days of computers, that's what's expected. Many house styles now say "one space" because it will be a pain for the typesetter to convert (even global replace can be a pain) -- if you look at published books, you'd most likely see one space after every stop.

I agree that the "two space" rule is left-over from the typewriter days.

Adam Israel · May 23, 2007

maestrowork said:
It's funny. Looking at all the posts in this thread, I see that everyone used one space after a period/full stop.

That seems to be something with the way posts are reformatted. I know I used two spaces but it displays with one.

maestrowork · May 23, 2007

StoneTable said:
That seems to be something with the way posts are reformatted. I know I used two spaces but it displays with one.

It's AW's house style.

No, actually HMTL eliminates extra spaces unless you put in a hard space with a code.

Cate · May 27, 2007

I have run into publications that ask for one and some that ask for two. (Magazines) I always check style guides and if they don't have one, or it isn't' in there, ask the editor to be safe. They always appreciate it. After all, some poor person has to switch it if you do it the "wrong" way!

I have a long-term releationship w/ a magazine that used to use 2 spaces but recently switched and is now only using one. I think the trend is leaning that way, but it doesn't hurt to ask!

Anne Lyle · May 28, 2007

StoneTable said:
That seems to be something with the way posts are reformatted. I know I used two spaces but it displays with one.

That's standard HTML formatting. You could put a dozen spaces after your full stop/period (I did when typing this sentence) and it makes no difference on a web page. There's a special character code for hard spaces - - but it's a pain to type and the forum software renders it as ordinary text anyway!

Hpw many spaces after commas and periods?

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