Do you double space after sentences?

[Clutch]

Title sums up my question. All the way through school I was told to double space after each sentence. And it has become such a habit that I don't even realize that I do double space. Just curious, as it seems to be a debate that I have seen around the Internet. I am trying to break myself from doing so because no one really uses typewriters anymore, which is where the double spacing came from if I remember correctly.

[MrBill]

Yes, I do. I always have and, most likely, always will.

[Thrax]

AP Style manual defines one space after a period in a sentence, and no spaces following a period if it is an acronym.

[CB]

There are no style manuals which still list this practice as correct, but I also don't know any English instructors who would count off for it, nor editors who would gripe about it.

[pseudonym]

I've done it for as long as I can remember because... well.... I can't remember why anymore. Too late to change now!

[Leonardo]

Yes. It was the standard for every every writing I've done in school - to include college, the Army, and my present career. Style manuals change. Perhaps the standard is only one space now. It really seems silly that so many punctuation and style changes happen every 20 years, seeming merely for the sake of change.

[Gnome Queen]

I was always instructed to use 2 spaces.

[Snarkasm]

One space ftw.

[UPSWeezer]

Two spaces. I evened it out 4 to 4.

[Nomad]

We were taught to in elementary school, but by the time I hit middle school the format had changed. The need to double space with modern typeface is vestigial.

[CB]

It was only during the era of the typewriter that it was correct to double those spaces. Before the typewriter entered common use, no one had ever heard of double spaces, in fact, the way block-and-wedge style typesetting works, putting in two spaces is a huge PITA, and modern typesetters who still use the old technology charge a significant mark-up to a customer who demands the practice.

[Kwitko]

I'm also a creature of habit, double-spacing after sentences. Time to change, I guess.

[Cyclonite]

Nope. Never have. I was never taught that way.

[Gargoyle]

I still think it looks better with two spaces. But that's probably because I was taught to double-space and I've gotten used to it.

[Nomad]

It was only during the era of the typewriter that it was correct to double those spaces. Before the typewriter entered common use, no one had ever heard of double spaces, in fact, the way block-and-wedge style typesetting works, putting in two spaces is a huge PITA, and modern typesetters who still use the old technology charge a significant mark-up to a customer who demands the practice.

Actually, it is because of the typewriter that double spaces after punctuation has fallen from favor. In the 1500s, typesetting got unified for 'readability' and justification purposes.

[RyderOCZ]

I was taught to double space and still do in emails.

[jared]

Nope, we were beat down with MLA my freshman year in high school. Double spacing isn't part of MLA - so we didn't do it. Those people who did out of previous habit quickly changed their ways after getting hefty point deductions for "not following" MLA.

[UPSLynx]

I double space after every period. And this is bugging me because now I've become concious of doing it... But I was taught to double space as well, so I'll keep on doing it.

Thing is, with as much communication that we do on the internet, we don't really need to worry about it either way. You'll notice that even if you post using double spaces, once it's posted that second space is dropped. The same is true of writing text on a web page.

But personally, I like the look of a double-spaced sentance. When I read a paper of sort, I like that extra room. Feels less claustrophobic.

[Buddy J]

nor editors who would gripe about it.

You know me. ;) Nothing annoys me more than having to remove extra spaces. I've got quite a few student columnists who do this, and I despise them for it. It's easily fixed with a find/replace command, but I still have an irrational hatred of the practice.

[CB]

Actually, it is because of the typewriter that double spaces after punctuation has fallen from favor. In the 1500s, typesetting got unified for 'readability' and justification purposes.

I only have 'History of Publishing Technology' class to go on. I suppose you could be right, but I don't think so.

Either way, it's certainly not currently in style.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of things like this, that as an English teacher, I've learned I have to simply be tolerant of, especially because there are high school teachers out there who apparently haven't updated their style manuals in 20 years, and it shows when these students make it to my Freshman writing class. I show them where they're wrong, but I don't start deducting points for it until the 200 level classes.

[Nomad]

but I don't think so.

no u

[Lincoln]

Nope. I believe I was told to several times, but then I was told to write in cursive for everything too and I wouldn't do that either. :ninja:

[UPSLynx]

Cursive is for lameos!

[Buddy J]

Architectural lettering is where it's at.

[Clutch]

I have always hated writing in cursive.

[Gnome Queen]

I only have 'History of Publishing Technology' class to go on. I suppose you could be right, but I don't think so.

Either way, it's certainly not currently in style.

Unfortunately, there are a lot of things like this, that as an English teacher, I've learned I have to simply be tolerant of, especially because there are high school teachers out there who apparently haven't updated their style manuals in 20 years, and it shows when these students make it to my Freshman writing class. I show them where they're wrong, but I don't start deducting points for it until the 200 level classes.

Do you seriously deduct points for double spacing versus single spacing?

[CB]

I was talking about those types of mistakes in general. I don't think I've ever taken off points for spaces, but I will start taking off points for not putting a comma after the second-to-last item in a prose list (another thing that some people do wrong because it has changed in the last few decades)

[PurplezArctic]

One space ftw.

[Buddy J]

Deducting points is a nice way of fixing it. I bust kneecaps.

[Nomad]

Deducting points is a nice way of fixing it. I bust kneecaps.

I cmd+option+hotkarl

[GHoosdum]

I always despised my English teachers in junior high and high school who claimed this was proper practice. Even if the style manuals hadn't phased it out quite yet, I knew in my heart it was a dying phenomenon. I've never found a single space after a full stop to alter the readability, even on monotype fonts.

[tmh88]

There was a biology teacher at my highschool (not sure if she's still there now) who was more of an English teacher than science. I never had her for any classes, but I've heard horror stories of people dropping letter grades because of grammar mistakes they made on tests, homework, and labs. One of my friends got a 92% on his final exam, but received an 89% because of grammatical errors. Honestly, if you can read it and it makes sense, why does it matter? It's not like he was writing in interweb t4lk, so why does it matter? I saw the test and she deducted for not capitalizing words at the beginning of a sentence, spelling a few words wrong, and improper use of a semicolon. Anyway, the point of the story was that she MADE them double space after periods on lab reports or she would deduct points for that too.

[Qeldroma]

Wow. I've assumed double spacing for so long and didn't even know it was an issue. I've got this so ingrained into me that seeing a single space after a period in a sentence looks...very awkward.

It was explained to me in typing class that it was to help emphasize a sentence in the word stream. It might've also had something to do with the fact that typewriters in those days knew nothing of word-wrap, true-type, and so on. An example would be a system font.

In this day and age of programming and webspeak, ijmnmamafaicftw (it just may not matter anymore as far as I'm concerned...for those wondering).

kthx

[Lincoln]

Here's the thing: a double-space is actually impossible on the Internet without coding it in HTML. All you double-space people are actually posting with one anyway; it's a completely wasted keystroke :p HTML made the decision for you 15 years ago.

[Thrax]

I've got this so ingrained into me that seeing a single space after a period in a sentence looks...very awkward.

Yet all his posts are single-spaced with nary a peep. ;D

[Qeldroma]

Here's the thing: a double-space is actually impossible on the Internet without coding it in HTML. All you double-space people are actually posting with one anyway; it's a completely wasted keystroke HTML made the decision for you 15 years ago

Sorry Keebs. Some good habits are so hard to break :p . Also sorry for wasting all those bytes on spaces :( .

Yet all his posts are single-spaced with nary a peep. ;D

Yeah, that's why this place seems so strange ;D.

Actually, I did notice- it just grows on you and you live with it.

[Lincoln]

Age of polled members (at 18-18 tie)

Double-spacers: average 31 years old
Single-spacers: average 23 years old

[Thrax]

Damn fogies refusing to get with the times.

/me shakes a fist.

[RyderOCZ]

* Ryder shakes his head at all these young upstarts

[Snarkasm]

Look at Keebs breakin' out the stats ;)

[RADA]

Nope. Never have. I was never taught that way.

What he said...

Never even heard of it, untill I was working on my Masters.. One of the "old" guys in my Environmental Ethics class wrote papers like that.

[pigflipper]

I was taught in K-12 to always put two spaces at the end of a sentence. When I got into a college level english class, my teacher recommended that we use only one space because some teachers would take points off, but he didn't because he learned using the two space method.

[Gargoyle]

Damn fogies refusing to get with the times.

* Thrax shakes a fist.

Everything old becomes new again. .I'm just ahead of the times. .And stubborn.

[Gargoyle]

Everything old becomes new again. .I'm just ahead of the times. .And stubborn.

I take it back. Compared to everything else that's single-spaced, that does look kind of weird with two spaces. But I still type it that way, since it seems to help me scan when I review what I've written before I post. I'm way obsessive about reading things over (and over) before posting.

[airbornflght]

I was taught to do two spaces in junior high, and then after that it kind of disappeared. I always thought a double space was a bit redundant.

[TvManPwns]

I've never double spaced after sentances and until now, have never enen heard of it. :) Cool

[Clutch]

This has turned out to be a pretty interesting thread. I was just talking to my best friend about this, and he says he has always single spaced, and we went to the same school. It's pretty hard actually breaking myself from a habit that I have done my whole life of typing on a computer.

[Winga]

I was never taught to double space and I come from the typewriter era :D
Seems like I don't fit the age demographic, but then I wonder if double spacing was ever introduced on my side of the pond or even in the UK for that matter?

[Lincoln]

Oddly, I don't see any Brits among our voters.

[QCH]

Double space... for me, it is easier to skim when double spaces are used. Single spaces tend to make the lines blur.... that's my opinion.

[Aranyic]

I've always double spaced. I do it during email, word documents, html even between tags during coding I'll do it from time to time.