The debate rages on, with grammar nerds on all sides exchanging strongly-worded letters of rage. Two spaces after a period at the end of a sentence, or a single space after a period at the end of the sentence. On one side, you’ve got typographers, professional editors, and those who think they know better saying two spaces is wrong and one space is correct. On the other side, you’ve got hordes of teachers, keyboarding specialists, and everyday writers who continue to put two spaces after a period. The experts say two spaces is wrong, but the standard used by most active writers and emailers is two spaces. Which side will win out?
“Forget about tolerating differences of opinion: typographically speaking, typing two spaces before the start of a new sentence is absolutely, unequivocally wrong,” says professional typographic consultant Ilene Strizver of The Type Studio. “When I see two spaces I shake my head and I go, Aye yay yay. I talk about ‘type crimes’ often, and in terms of what you can do wrong, this one deserves life imprisonment. It’s a pure sign of amateur typography.”
I learned to type leaving two spaces after a period. If you look at my PopFi posts, they’ve pretty much all got two spaces after a terminal period. That’s the way I learned in high school, that’s the way I was told in college, and that’s my standard. However, when I submit something for publication, I’ll generally go through and use autocorrect to remove two spaces from behind every period, just to conform to publication standards.
I am literally on both sides of my debate, but in my heart I’m a two-spacer and I always will be. Rules are made to be broken, word nerds!
Tags: writing, typing, grammar in writing, online writing grammar, spaces after a period, two spaces after a period, one space after a period, two spaces or one space after a period, correct writing, Ilene Strizver, typography, The Type Studio, grammar nerds, grammar problems, English language grammar debates
