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Can I Get a Ruling: One or Two Spaces After a Period?

January 13, 2009 by Nathan Bransford

First off, congratulations to my childhood hero Rickey Henderson for being elected into the baseball Hall of Fame!! Not only was Rickey an incredible hitter and base stealer, he also said things like “Rickey don’t like it when Rickey can’t find Rickey’s limo” (no seriously, that’s an actual quote), making him spectacularly entertaining off the field as well. Rickey might just be the first baseball player ever to give his entire acceptance speech in the third person.

Now then.

I’d like to issue a parental advisory right now. Because of the impassioned feelings on both sides of this issue, this debate could get ugly.

Let’s get this one settled once and for all.

(Deep breath)

One space or two after a period?

Bracing….

(Thanks to lotusgirl for the idea.)

Filed Under: Writing Advice Tagged With: Can I Get A Ruling?, Writing and Sports

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Anonymous says

    January 14, 2009 at 10:55 am

    how about 3 spaces – just to make sure

  2. Damyanti says

    January 14, 2009 at 10:58 am

    I must either be too young, or too much of an ostrich.

    I’ve only ever used one space. I didn’t know this issue existed till I saw this post!

    I’ve never ever used a typewriter, so maybe that explains it.

  3. Abigail Rieley says

    January 14, 2009 at 11:56 am

    I was taught two spaces in school, which was underlined in college but most news editors I’ve dealt with get very snippy about all that space after a full stop. The publishers of my first book were also most emphatic about uaing only a single space.
    It does rather seem, in Ireland at least, as if we no longer have time for the extra pause!

  4. Peter Tarnofsky says

    January 14, 2009 at 11:58 am

    One or two – whichever the author prefers. I prefer two – other people prefer one. They can read what I write and I can read what they write.

    Personally, I find it clearer with two – I assume that the one-spacers don’t find two spaces makes it harder to read so what’s their problem?

    Anyway, Nathan, shouldn’t you be focussing on the words people use rather than the gaps they leave? Or are you looking for the next Harold Pinter?

  5. Anonymous says

    January 14, 2009 at 12:37 pm

    It’s always possible to go one better!
    A lady with impeccable memory who attended secretarial college before WW2 tells me the rules were:
    1 space after a comma;
    2 spaces after a colon or semi-colon;
    3 spaces after a full stop (“period” had a quite different meaning!)

  6. marye.ulrich says

    January 14, 2009 at 12:52 pm

    I have always been a two spacer. Then I joined Twitter with the 140 character limit and–flash, became a one spacer.

  7. Joseph Lewis says

    January 14, 2009 at 2:16 pm

    It’s ONE! I’m an editor and it is always ONE! Modern type faces are designed to allow sufficient space around the period, so you only need ONE space after them. The second space is a left-over from the days of poorly designed typewriter type. ONE, ONE, a thousand times ONE!

  8. Lubes says

    January 14, 2009 at 3:18 pm

    One space after a period. Two after a semi-colon.

  9. Madison says

    January 14, 2009 at 3:38 pm

    One is all you need. Two is overkill.

  10. Barbara's blog says

    January 14, 2009 at 4:25 pm

    I’m 72 years old and learned two spaces after a period. However, I’ve changed and now do one. If this old dog can do it, so can you!

  11. StirlingEditor says

    January 14, 2009 at 4:27 pm

    As a fiction editor, here’s what I advise my clients:

    1. If you write fiction, always refer to the Chicago Manual of Style–it’s the closest thing fiction writers have to a bible.

    2. Spacing–Chicago states: “A single character space, not two spaces, should be left after periods at the ends of sentences (both in manuscript and in final, published form).”

    *Unless an agent or editor requires otherwise, use one.

    3. One tip when using a global “Find All/Replace All” method: keep hitting the “Replace All” button over and over until it says it found zero instances. It is a glitch in Microsoft Word.

    4. Numbers–Chicago’s general rule: “The following are spelled out: whole numbers from one through one hundred, round numbers, and any number beginning a sentence.”

    5. Comma usage–Chicago’s rule: “When a conjunction joins the last two elements in a series, a comma–known as the serial or series comma or the Oxford comma–should appear before the conjunction.”
    Example: red, white, and blue.

    * Final recommendation: never use a global find/replace on ANYTHING but spacing. Think what would happen if you globally changed Fred’s name to Ed (without clicking the match case button)? Chaos! You’d see walkEd and turnEd and smilEd everywhere. Egads!

    Happy editing!
    ~Cheri

  12. Pamela Hammonds says

    January 14, 2009 at 4:28 pm

    I am so surprised there is even a debate. When I went to work for a newspaper, my editor immediately told me to stop the double spacing–and this was 10 years ago. I’ve been a single-space girl ever since. And now as an editor, I included it in my list of things I wanted my writers to change. Double spacing went the way of typewriters. But I’m not angry about it….

  13. Jodith says

    January 14, 2009 at 4:29 pm

    I’ve typed for 30 years using two spaces. It’s a completely ingrained habit to type two spaces after a period. I can’t *make* myself change (trust me, I’ve tried).

    If I have something that really must have one space, I use find and replace to find all double spaces and replace them with single spaces.

    However, I have to say that on many things I read, I still prefer the double space. It gives a nice break for the eye to see the end of sentences for those of us who read fast/skim things. So many times I’m reading something and curse the single spaces because I have to slow down to read. I hate it almost as much as fully justified text (which just messes up all the word spacing).

    I can’t tell you how much it annoys me that WordPress takes out my extra spaces.

  14. lvmypoodle says

    January 14, 2009 at 4:31 pm

    This is a question for the ages. I learned old school–2 spaces after a period–and now only use 1. Here’s why: The original intent of 2 spaces after the period was to provide a visual break between sentences. Typed letters all took up the same amount of space, which was monotonous on the page. The only way to create visual separation was with spaces. With the invention of word processing and proportional typefaces, the need for two spaces went away. Now two spaces after a period creates too much space. Of course, there are exceptions to every rule.

  15. Erik says

    January 14, 2009 at 4:38 pm

    Two spaces after a period.

    And through is spelled that way, not “thru”.

    That’s the way it was, and we liked it.

  16. AnarchyJack says

    January 14, 2009 at 4:46 pm

    Since when does Microsoft get to decide the structure of our language? Two spaces have followed a period since the advent of the typewriter, but because some suit says it will save data storage space, it becomes the business standard. When we start adopting email standards for literature, we might as well cue our readers to laugh with LOL and LMFAO.

  17. Anonymous says

    January 14, 2009 at 5:15 pm

    Two spaces is easier to read in manuscript, especially in TNR where the period is minuscule. Yeah, the word processors out there say they adjust the spacing for you, but they don’t, unless you justify the right margin (a BAD thing) or are using a newletter or columnar format, for example.

  18. The Masked Brute says

    January 14, 2009 at 5:39 pm

    I learned one space, as far as I can recall, and when I was in college it was explicitly part of the History and Sociology class guidelines that I had in my seminar classes.

    That said, when I taught highschool the English teachers were still teaching the freshmen and sophomores the two-space method (when pressed I was told “it’s just the correct way”).

  19. Anonymous says

    January 14, 2009 at 6:52 pm

    Nathan,

    I read the first few comments. Seemed they were saying all that could be said. Then I got to thinking. So here’s my two cents.

    Maybe, what I’m about to say has already been said. If so, then just delete me.

    How much of the one space rule existed before Word was created? Or Word Perfect for that matter. I know Word Perfect was the standard in 1990 when Windows was just a glimmer on the horizon.

    Perhaps, one space vs two was not so much about the fonts or convention as it was about saving precious disk space when even spaces took up a byte.

  20. Angie says

    January 14, 2009 at 9:31 pm

    I use two, I’ve always used two, all my typing reflexes make me use two (even on systems where I know the second one is going to be stripped before whatever I’m typing is actually posted), and I always will use two, until and unless the time comes when someone waving money at me specifically makes the single-space option a requirement of my being given that money. And I’ll still grump about it.

    Angie, Crotchety Old Broad(tm)

  21. Mystery Robin says

    January 14, 2009 at 10:15 pm

    Who are all these people voting for 1 space!!! One space makes my skin crawl!! It’s like starting a query with a question! ACK!!!!!

  22. lucidkim says

    January 15, 2009 at 12:01 am

    I didn’t realize this was a big deal until I read all these comments! Like so many have said, I learned to type on a typewriter and two spaces is what I’ve always done. When I see one space between sentences it makes me feel crowded and annoyed. But if Martha Brockenbrough says one space…I can change! kim

  23. Laura says

    January 15, 2009 at 12:21 am

    I went to Katharine Gibbs Secretarial school and we were taught two spaces after a period. It looks more professional and it at one time it spaced things evenly before a computer when you actually had to add and divide to find the center of a page.

    I still use two spaces after a period.

  24. Anonymous says

    January 15, 2009 at 1:09 am

    @Amber Lynn Argyle and others who applaud all that’s bright, shiny, and new: I’ll take “old school” if that means correct grammar and punctuation any day of the week, month, and year, thank you. A look at the “new” is a look at a but, if not truly, the illegible and illiterate.

  25. Efemmeral says

    January 15, 2009 at 2:15 am

    Two spaces if you’re typing on a typewriter or using a mono-space font. (Or live in the early twentieth century.)

    One space for modern-day word processing with proportional fonts.

    Editors will take your extra space out (and be annoyed).

    You can set Word to autocorrect your post-period spacing, and you can break the two-space habit if you try.

    You can break other high school typing class habits, too. Read The Mac is Not a Typewriter (or the PC is not a Typewriter) by Robin Williams.

  26. The Anonymous Copyeditor says

    January 15, 2009 at 4:08 am

    Eh. Go ahead and use two spaces if it helps your rhythm or pleases your sense of aesthetics or whatever. As a copyeditor, the first thing I’m going to do when I get your manuscript is run my trusty macro to get rid of them, because every style manual I use calls for one space.

    FWIW, I am also going to fix your serial commas, spelled-out numbers, and other minutiae that really shouldn’t concern you, because you aren’t expected to be familiar with The Chicago Manual of Style or whatever style manual your publisher is using; I am. It’s what I get paid for. If you start worrying about that stuff, you’ll put me out of work. Why do you want my children to starve? Why?

  27. BT says

    January 15, 2009 at 5:16 am

    This seems like something that should be fairly straight forward to solve.

    Read the submission guidelines.

    Lots of markets state how they want the manuscript prented. It doesn’t matter if you’re “old school” or part of the PC generation, guidelines break all ties.

  28. ~tivi jones says

    January 15, 2009 at 1:39 pm

    I was always taught to put two spaces- but sadly, I never do. Sorry, Ms. Estep.

  29. Anonymous says

    January 15, 2009 at 5:33 pm

    We’re in the age of computers, not typewriters. Use one space!

  30. Heidi Quist says

    January 15, 2009 at 6:18 pm

    I’m a little late on this–but I’ll put in my two cents–Chicago says 1. My old English teachers said 2. Chicago tends to get most things right, even though they think “web” should be capitalized. That just blows my mind. What is it proper for?

  31. Heidi Quist says

    January 15, 2009 at 6:21 pm

    I also have to add, slightly related, please, please, please, please, please, put the quotation marks after the period. The other way around is incredibly annoying.

  32. Michelle Miles says

    January 15, 2009 at 7:47 pm

    ONE!! Now that we’re not on typewriters anymore, it’s only ONE space, people. ONE ONE ONE!

    Can you tell it bugs me? 😀

    (PS My word verification is mistyped LOL!)

  33. Gwenda, says

    January 15, 2009 at 7:58 pm

    I think it is customary to have two spaces after a full stop in England and one in the US. Hate the word period, by the way as it’s the time of the month in the UK!!!

  34. Okie says

    January 16, 2009 at 1:56 am

    lol….hilarious how divided this is. 🙂

    My vote, two spaces. 🙂

  35. Annie says

    January 16, 2009 at 9:27 pm

    It is 2009. One space.

  36. Anonymous says

    January 16, 2009 at 9:34 pm

    I love how people keep saying the two spaces is “antiquated.” I grew up being taught – repeatedly – that two spaces was the correct way and I’m only 24. I think the only reason I’ve ever typed on a typewriter is because I wanted to see what it was like.

    So I use two spaces out of habit, but that’s not to say that one space is wrong.

  37. Anonymous says

    January 16, 2009 at 10:46 pm

    Well folks, I am a book reviewer and I received a manuscript from an author who happens to also be a literary agent, and she is a double spacer!

    So it is not just those of us who are “out of the loop” who use the double space. It is a perfectly acceptable format, even from a polished profesional in the buisness.

  38. Anonymous says

    January 17, 2009 at 8:36 am

    I honestly had no idea this was an issue until I read this today. I was taught to use two spaces after the end of a sentance. It’s ingrained. I’m doing it now.

    My Microsoft Word says I’m wrong if I accidently only use one space afterwards…

    Two. I will always use two. And if someone who reads my work insists that I change it, then I can find and replace.

  39. Zoe Winters says

    January 17, 2009 at 1:54 pm

    Wow, I can’t believe this got to almost 300 comments, and no I’m not reading them all.

    I was always taught 2 spaces. But in the finished published books we read it’s one space. So I type double, cause it’s just habit and I can’t break it. And then I use the search and replace feature to fix it in the final draft down to one space.

  40. Finny says

    January 19, 2009 at 6:31 pm

    I’m only 25 and I was self-taught (with some coaching from my father) on a typewriter at age 5 to use two spaces. By the time IBM infiltrated my school, we were learning on WordPerfect (v. 3.1, if you can believe it), and we were still being taught to use two spaces.

    I recognize that one is standard these days, but I find it very very difficult to break the habit. Perhaps I’ll make use of the find and replace feature in the future.

  41. Anonymous says

    January 20, 2009 at 6:16 pm

    For all of you two-spacers, I have an inspiring message: change is possible! I was brung up by my old-school-English-teacher mother to use two, but when the 21st century hit and I realized that only one was necessary… I CHANGED! Over a period of a week or two I started fighting the urge to use two, and after a while one became habit. Saint Obama is right, there is hope for change!

  42. emilymurdoch says

    January 23, 2009 at 9:42 pm

    The Blue Book says:

    https://www.grammarbook.com/punctuation/spacing.asp

  43. MrTact says

    January 28, 2009 at 7:08 pm

    @Jodith (& others who have issues with WordPress, blogger et cetera):

    It's not WordPress taking out your spaces. When browsers render any chunk of whitespace, of any length, they render it as a single space. This is so the underlying HTML can be formatted in a readable way without adversely impacting the rendered output.

    The recommended way to format HTML text is with styles. It's possible to force the browser to render whitespace, but it takes a little extra work.

  44. Wanderer says

    February 3, 2009 at 9:05 am

    I was taught that two spaces was the rule. Now why is it at work they only want one?! As Mel Gibson said in Braveheart, “They may take our lives but they’ll never take our freedom”! So be free and do what you want (punctually speaking, of course) 😉

  45. Anonymous says

    April 6, 2009 at 5:14 pm

    This documentary may be of interest to anyone who feels strongly about this issue.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RMhREMesQ8I

  46. Anonymous says

    June 10, 2009 at 6:15 pm

    I will leave the following statement. (This program will likely trim my double-spaces, so FIE!)

    I have a monkey named George H. Washington is where I met him.

    See the problem?

  47. Alissa Vidulich says

    August 24, 2009 at 1:19 am

    I'm only in my early 20s and throughout my middle & high school years we were always taught to use two spaces. Mind you this was long after the typewriter days, we had Apples (as we used to call them) early on in elementary school. I never knew about the supposed 'switch' until reading this blog. It's just mind boggling. Now I have to go through my manuscript and try to figure out how the replace feature works when it comes to spaces instead of words..weird.

  48. JJ Skittles says

    August 26, 2009 at 8:57 pm

    I started using two spaces from high school typing class. I understand that fonts are different now, but I still use two spaces because, regardless of proportional fonts, I find that two spaces visually separates sentences better and makes the material more readable.

    Sometimes single spaced sentences blend too close together for my liking.

  49. Anonymous says

    February 3, 2010 at 7:55 am

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_spacing_at_the_end_of_sentences

  50. Anonymous says

    August 30, 2012 at 3:48 pm

    According to MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers, Seventh Edition, it was common when using a typewriter to use two spaces. Today, writers "influenced by the look of typeset publications" leave only one space. "Whichever spacing you choose, be sure to use it consistently" (pg.77-78).

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Hi, I’m Nathan. I’m the author of How to Write a Novel and the Jacob Wonderbar series, which was published by Penguin. I used to be a literary agent at Curtis Brown Ltd. and I’m dedicated to helping authors achieve their dreams. Let me help you with your book!

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