Background

I've been having a friendly argument with the person helping me find a job about how many spaces should go after a period at the end of a sentence in a paragraph. She says two (2), I say one (1).

I remember typing class. I can't quite remember if the teacher demanded two spaces or not, but somewhere in there, when I was learning to type, I got into the habit of using two. When I started doing web pages, I noticed that all of this double-spacing was "going away". I mean, it was still in my original typing in the source, but when it showed on the website, it was gone. Trying to find out why, I researched it, and found that when you write anything in HTML, that no matter how much white-space you put between words (tabs OR spaces), it is all compressed to one single space.

Recently, we wrote up a cover-letter, and she put double-spaces after the periods. When I got and edited it, I changed them to single-spaces. When she went to use the new version, she noticed the single-spacing and put the doubles back. I said that online, it was no longer necessary, and she said it was. I told her I'd find the proof that it was not "the rule" any more, and did some research.

I thought about just sending this to her, but realized that others are discussing this in many places, and wanted to "weigh in" on the matter, where others could find it.

My Findings and Opinion

I found that many seem to say using the double- or single-space after an end-of-sentence period is based on fixed and proportional fonts. In the "old days" on typewriters, the fonts used were "fixed". Now-a-days, with most, if not all, writing being done on computers using word processors, most people use "proportional fonts." Someone said that periods (seem to) get "tucked" close to the letter before, and a little extra space is allocated afterward (electronically) for proportional fonts.

Others said that the double-space after a period was to denote "full-stop" at the end of a sentence, and that when the item was printed, type-setters would use a special character (say, a period with a little extra spacing) afterward. This makes sense. Also, if I remember correctly, when I saw a "type-setters" period. instead of being in the middle of the piece of metal used, it was set a little further to the left, as were other - especially "end-of-sentence" punctuation marks. To replicate that little bit of extra space on a typewriter, required actually hitting the space-bar an extra time.

But when everything went electronic, and fonts were introduced to the general public, (and the world went "paperless" - Yes, I know it really didn't), except in fixed fonts (Courier, New Courier, etc.), the extra space may have been added to many of the fonts' periods. Ellipses ("...") are , or can be, electronically converted to a smaller character that probably only takes up 2 spaces.

Changing from putting the double-space after a period to a single-space is not necessarily an easy habit to break. I didn't find it all that difficult, but many still put the double-space after period, because that's the way they were taught. How many people remember "rivers of white space" when I typed papers. I find these have disappeared, so it's not so easy to see these now, and prefer it, myself.

Do I use "white-space"? Yes I do. When I program, I use a LOT of white space. Makes things easier to read in the program. I also use a lot of white-space in HTML and other "behind-scenes" coding of webpages. (I tend to write those things "vertically".) However, I know that they will ALL be reduced to a single-space when it's actually rendered on the page.

ALSO, if you use fully-justified paragraphs (they line up as a column on both the left AND right sides), and many newspaper and magazines do this, you will notice that there are times when say three-four long words, or a couple of short words followed by a very long one, have LOTS of space between them, because the only way to "justify" the columns to the right when the next word won't fit is to put a bunch of blank space between them. Fully justified text also has a lot more hyphens in it, so the words will "break", allowing for less of those extra space. They weren't TYPED that way (normally). I have also noticed, at times, when someone has apparently ended a sentence with two spaces, the next line is indented by a space or so, ruining the "justification".

Look at it this way... We seldom use 2-5 spaces to indent the first line of a paragraph; We use a blank line to denote this. This works for many online applications, except in cases where space is at a premium (newspapers, magazines, etc.)

The same change is true of the "double-space after a period" rule.

BTW: When you cut-and-paste the Cover Letter into an email or many entry boxes, the double-spaces after the periods will disappear (to single-space). That's the standard for HTML, and apparently, many other documents.

Links about the Situation

• About.com - One Space or Two Spaces After Punctuation -Rules of Desktop Publishing New Window
• Terminally Incoherent » Blog Archive » Two Spaces after the period or One? New Window
• PUBS-L Archives - July 2004 (#39) - To single or double space? New Window
• Tips - To The Point - Editing Proofreading & Resume Services New Window
• Blogdorf - The Double-Space Debate New Window

Some are discussions and many people are passionate about it (both sides). I guess, as stated in some, it doesn't really matter, as long as you are consistent. (And KS, you KNOW my preference! )

by Bill Sanders © March 28, 2007 - email:
 

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