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Do you type 1 space or 2 spaces after the ending punctuation mark?

Josie

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I'm 38 and was taught keyboarding on a computer in the late 90s. We learned two spaces after the end of a sentence. Have I been wrong for 20 years?
 
I usually do two. Then if I'm posting something where I have a character limit and I need to get some characters back, I go around deleting the second space.
 
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View attachment 67246200

I'm 38 and was taught keyboarding on a computer in the late 90s. We learned two spaces after the end of a sentence. Have I been wrong for 20 years?

That changed at some point after you were taught.

I took technical writing as a part of my college curriculum and it was 2 spaces - early/mid 80's. One of the guys I was doing a proposal with in 2011 told me I was wrong. I challanged him, but it seems he was correct. The convention changed.
 
For awhile I was frustrated that two spaces wouldn't show up at the end of my sentence in most computer settings. But I've gotten used to it.
 
I use one space for a comma. Two spaces for a period. I've been wrong for 60 years.
/
 
I learned on a typewriter. I use 2 spaces.
 
I'm 64 and freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose. I type two spaces after a period.
 
48. As a kid I got a whiff of it and then a brutal smackdown (a C) for extending paper length.
 
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I had never even heard of using 2 spaces until recently. My new boss prefers 2 spaces, but 1 is so ingrained it's hard to do.
 
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I'm 38 and was taught keyboarding on a computer in the late 90s. We learned two spaces after the end of a sentence. Have I been wrong for 20 years?

You've been wrong. Face it, the last 20 years have been an utter failure because of all that wasted space you created.
 
You've been wrong. Face it, the last 20 years have been an utter failure because of all that wasted space you created.

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Whostillusesspaces?
 
S p a c e s a r e G o o d . I d o n ' t k n o w w h a t I w o u l d d o w i t h o u t s p a c e s .
 
One space is all you need on computer related typing, while when printing hand notes, it might be better to use two spaces to make the text more readable.
 
Do you type 1 space or 2 spaces after the ending punctuation mark?

I type two spaces after terminal punctuation marks I use as such.
  • Periods:
    • One space or no space (as appropriate given the grammar of the sentence/phrase) --> Periods used to indicate abbreviations. For example: Mr., Mrs., and other abbreviations that require periods. (You'll notice I put no space between the period following the "r" and "s" and the serial/Oxford commas.)
  • Periods and question marks:
    • No space --> I use the American style of punctuation, so I place terminal punctuation inside quotation marks. I follow "terminal" quotation marks with two spaces.
    • Two spaces --> I type two spaces after periods and question marks that end sentences, provided the next sentence is in the same paragraph/line.
    • N/A --> Terminal punctuation followed by a line break.
  • Colons: Colons can be quasi-terminal when they are followed by a line break.
    • Following space quantity is N/A --> Colons followed by a line break.
    • Two spaces --> Colons followed by text on the same line.
 
Someone on FB posted this image:

View attachment 67246200

I'm 38 and was taught keyboarding on a computer in the late 90s. We learned two spaces after the end of a sentence. Have I been wrong for 20 years?

Red:
No. Moreover, I'm not sure it's a "right or wrong" thing.

The two-space convention makes reading easier and it makes scanning faster because one's eye can fairly readily distinguish the extra space. That extra space is helpful to speed readers; others may not care.

FWIW, it seems that this website will display one space after terminal periods even if one types two.
 
I really don't think it matters.
 
Someone on FB posted this image:

View attachment 67246200

I'm 38 and was taught keyboarding on a computer in the late 90s. We learned two spaces after the end of a sentence. Have I been wrong for 20 years?

Was taught typing on a typewriter using old form with the 2 spaces after periods and such. I kind of gave that up on the interwebz.
 
Like, why? I've never heard of this.
 
Like, why? I've never heard of this.

It was standard formatting protocol for typing when typing involved typewriters and not computers.
 
It was standard formatting protocol for typing when typing involved typewriters and not computers.

But why? Did the typewriters put the words too close together?
 
But why? Did the typewriters put the words too close together?

I'm not sure. I think it was to define a difference between spaces that were merely between words and spaces that kicked off a new sentence? Dunno.
 
I'm not sure. I think it was to define a difference between spaces that were merely between words and spaces that kicked off a new sentence? Dunno.

That's what punctuation is for? :lol:

The mystery remains, lol.
 
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