For our SOCIALIS Saturday event this week, an event where we get to each other better, here is a trivial question that I’ve been dying to ask people about writing. This is just for fun, what do you think?
Surely I’m not the only person who wonders whether to put one space or two between sentences these days?
There’s a history, you can Google it. But, what do you say? Which do you prefer? Or what were you taught?
16 thoughts on “One space or two?”
I will often use two spaces when writing for print media, though I’m inconsistent on that. In high school we learned MLA format, which does specify to use only one space, but a few teachers had overriding preference on that. On the web it’s largely irrelevant, since no matter how many spaces you use, only one will be displayed (unless you jump through hoops in your HTML).
Two. It is how I was taught and I’m too old and too obstinate to change habits.
The typesetting for print by computers back there changed all the rules for spelling,
much fewer capitals, pope for example, and tighter spaces. Today’s Spelling and Grammar programmes for Word are rather ruthless in squeezing space!
Two spaces.
One. I do most of my heavy writing in a typesetting program that is space agnostic anyway, like most of the internet. As such, I don’t think I use any programs (except maybe email) that will preserve two spaces.
I put two spaces between sentences. It’s just a habit that I hope will never die. I’m not really attached to it; I don’t go around counting other people’s spaces, but I have been known to go back and edit an email if I missed a space. It’s been hard to adjust to Twitter, where I can only have 160 characters and so must conserve the spaces. Of course, on twitter almost all grammar rules must be forgotten.
In typing class, I was taught to use two spaces. But I have since been corrected when I began working in print media (when doing a major project in Rome for our Institute, I learned to use only one space). I have chosen to follow my own rule of aesthetics. In print media, depending on what font and type spacing, one space is not always sufficient, and sometimes I have to bend the rules to get the ‘look’ I want. The important thing is, it is not a distraction for the average reader, but our result should lead the reader further into reading, not to wondering if our spacing is a bit odd.
Sr. Lisa Marie,
That clearly falls under the other rule: When in Rome do as the Romans do.
One! (I’m an MLA girl)
It’s quite funny but I never knew there was an option for two spaces. Hmm.
I abhor two spaces and I abhor most of the MLA format. Items in a series should each be separated by a comma. The only time I have ever used two spaces was when I was writing papers for a deadline (which was all the time). Double spaced after periods and 1.5 paragraph spacing could significantly lengthen a paper that had to be three pages long, thus reducing the amount one had to write.
Sometimes I put two spaces between sentences. This is how I was taught to do it in school. Other times I only put one space, more-or-less according to aesthetics.
Two. I prefer a noticeable gap between my sentences. ;D
Thank you all! Interesting answers!
It seems to me that WordPress insists on one.
I usually use one because it’s what I’ve gotten used too and two usually spreads too far for me, although it may start to make my posts seem longer… well it’s a thought.