# How many spaces between sentences? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 22, 2010, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spaces-between-sentences/554703 "2010-09-22T21:36:37Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spaces-between-sentences/554703/41 "2010-09-23T13:12:45Z")
> [@Dead\_Cat](#): > > I voted for two, because I think it makes documents easier to read whether the font is monospaced or proportional. For those ardent “one” fans, what is your objection to the double space? It surely can’t be that it makes a document a fraction of a percent longer? Mine is simply because no one else uses it. Entire systems have been designed to remove superfluous spacing. Oddly, although I had keyboarding in 2000, I was taught to double-space. But I only did it in class. And, even then, it was often what slowed me down. I had never seen it done before, and never been told to use it. I didn’t even know such a convention existed. ---
**Author:** ![delphica](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e9a140/32.png) [@delphica](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/delphica)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spaces-between-sentences/554703/42 "2010-09-23T13:13:48Z")
I use two. I’m not going to change now. When I have tried to use one, it drags my speed way, way down. And anyway, it seems like anything important converts it to one if it’s that big a deal. My mom sent me to secretarial school during the summer when I was about 14, her working theory was that I had a too horrible a personality to ever work retail or in food service, so I would need to get office jobs. I’m not THAT old, but I do have the office skill set of a 1950s secretary – I could probably get a job at Sterling Cooper and blend in just fine. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 1:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spaces-between-sentences/554703/43 "2010-09-23T13:14:11Z")
> [@septimus](#): > > I’m two from pure habit, though it’s now an obsolescent rule I guess. > > I use _vi_ as my text editor; it provides double space after ‘.’ in response to its ‘J’ command, even when inappropriate, producing “Mr. Jones” for example. (I mean with two spaces between “Mr.” and “Jones”. For fun, I’ve actually put _six_ spaces there; I suppose it will display here as a single.) > > I write html documents by hand, where spacing is really annoying: I write "     " for a triple space. Here you have to use & #160; (without the space of course), and you can’t preview (or, if you do, you have to hit back before submitting.) I’ve had to work out some charts before. ---
**Author:** ![Todderbob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@Todderbob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Todderbob)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spaces-between-sentences/554703/44 "2010-09-23T13:18:00Z")
Two spaces, but my computers change “.[Space][Space]” to “.[Space]” automagically for variable width font, and leave it for fixed. My iPhone and iPad both autocorrect “[Space][Space]” to “.[Space]” so I don’t have to “.123” button over to my symbols (on the iPhone, on the iPad, the “./?” button is on the main letters board, but it’s still easier to “[Space][Space]”). ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spaces-between-sentences/554703/45 "2010-09-23T13:26:00Z")
I was taught to use two spaces, in the long ago year of 1998, and it’s a habit now. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spaces-between-sentences/554703/46 "2010-09-23T13:28:25Z")
I’m another TYPIST who voted two, and the score is tied at 74-all right now. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 1:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spaces-between-sentences/554703/47 "2010-09-23T13:38:35Z")
> [@Dead\_Cat](#): > > I voted for two, because I think it makes documents easier to read whether the font is monospaced or proportional. For those ardent “one” fans, what is your objection to the double space? It surely can’t be that it makes a document a fraction of a percent longer? 1. It doesn’t actually make documents easier to read, and in fact trips me up with a wide gulf of blank space. **Randy Seltzer** ’s post explains more. 2. When number of characters is a concern, and a space is counted as a character, it’s a complete waste. 3. It’s just not necessary. 4. It’s analogous to insisting on punching in each individual digit of a phone number every time you dial it, because that’s the way you were taught and it’s just habit, rather than using available technology like speed dial and contact lists. It completely baffles me that folks insist on using outdated methods when better are readily available. But like I said, while I feel passionately about it, I’m not going to fight anyone and demand they use one space. It’s mainly the stubbornly clinging to outdated habits that boggles me. > [@delphica](#): > > When I have tried to use one, it drags my speed way, way down. Only because you’re not used to it. ---
**Author:** ![BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bcef8e/32.png) [@BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BellRungBookShut-CandleSnuffed)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spaces-between-sentences/554703/48 "2010-09-23T14:35:00Z")
I find that while with proportional fonts, the space after a period is fairly obvious, with two spaces it’s really distinct. I use two, and for readability I don’t care except in the context where I’m really trying to cram some speed reading in (like before a class). The extra space really does help my brain sort out sentences when I’m flying through a page as quickly as I can. ETA: Plus, I like rivers in books. Sometimes I think they spell something or make a little picture, and that it’d be a good way to encode information for spies 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spaces-between-sentences/554703/49 "2010-09-23T14:38:00Z")
One, which is correct usage in the way that two is not. I’d be interested in how professional writers & editors answered. Based on the comments, I’d guess 90+% of them picked 1. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spaces-between-sentences/554703/50 "2010-09-23T14:55:46Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > > [@Electric\_Warrior](#): > > > > This is important to me because the second space can vastly change the meaning of a phrase. For instance, take the line from Arthur Conan Doyle: > > “Holmes!” I ejaculated. " > > Oh, and the extra space does nothing to change the meaning in the example given. Are you sure of that? With single and double space the implied meanings are respectively #2 and #1 of [a typical dictionary](http://www.thefreedictionary.com/ejaculate). Now you’ve got me interested. Which of the two meanings did you overlook? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spaces-between-sentences/554703/51 "2010-09-23T15:00:48Z")
> [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > I’d be interested in how professional writers & editors answered. It would also be interesting to see US vs non-US usage. I had never heard about two spaces until I started using e-mail and hanging around in places like this. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spaces-between-sentences/554703/52 "2010-09-23T15:03:48Z")
> [@ZenBeam](#): > > > [@B.Serum](#): > > > > **People, it’s ONE.** > > > > Seriously. I am trained in typography. Old-timers (myself included) were taught two spaces because of the nature of monospaced letters on a typewriter. Now that most of us use word processors that use glyphs of varying width, the extra space isn’t necessary to easily notice the end of a sentence. > > What I don’t understand is, why do you care? Your typesetting software should be able to handle one or two spaces and render the text the same either way. (If it can’t, get better software.) Point of order… ‘proper’ typesetting software, such as the industry standard InDesign, puts those decisions in the hands of the typographer, not the whims of some geek at Microsoft. So when a writer supplies text to a designer with double spaces, we have to take them out. Software that makes these decisions for you is for amateurs, it’s not ‘better’. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spaces-between-sentences/554703/53 "2010-09-23T15:08:28Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > > [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > > > I’d be interested in how professional writers & editors answered. > > It would also be interesting to see US vs non-US usage. I had never heard about two spaces until I started using e-mail and hanging around in places like this. The Non-US answer (or British, in this instance) is the same as for the rest of this thread. Two spaces is a typing convention from the days of mono-spaced alphabets on old-time typewriters, where two spaces improved clarity. It now is obsolete, but many older writers still do it out of habit, and then the designers/typesetters remove the extra space at layout stage. Pick any published book off your shelf for proof. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spaces-between-sentences/554703/54 "2010-09-23T15:18:08Z")
I was taught two spaces in the early days of word processors (there were only typewriters when I was young-er, and I never used them), but have since been ridiculed for it to such an extent that I always only do one now. So I voted one. ---
**Author:** ![Rebo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rebo/32/13005_2.png) [@Rebo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rebo)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spaces-between-sentences/554703/55 "2010-09-23T15:22:56Z")
Two out of habit, but I’ve been training myself to use only one. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spaces-between-sentences/554703/56 "2010-09-23T15:25:29Z")
\*\* shakes her head sadly at all the two-spacer old fogeys \*\* ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spaces-between-sentences/554703/57 "2010-09-23T15:32:22Z")
> [@purplehorseshoe](#): > > \*\* shakes her head sadly at all the two-spacer old fogeys \*\* Dagnabbit, I use one now! Get off my lawn! ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 3:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spaces-between-sentences/554703/58 "2010-09-23T15:48:35Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > 1. It doesn’t actually make documents easier to read, and in fact trips me up with a wide gulf of blank space. **Randy Seltzer** ’s post explains more. I guess this one is a matter of opinion, on which we will have to agree to disagree. I did read **Randy** ’s post, but I still think _for me_ it makes things easier to read/understand. > [@Bosstone](#): > > 1. When number of characters is a concern, and a space is counted as a character, it’s a complete waste. Fair enough, but I don’t think I have ever had to type a document where a space counts as a character. > [@Bosstone](#): > > 1. It’s just not necessary. Maybe, maybe not. > [@Bosstone](#): > > 1. It’s analogous to insisting on punching in each individual digit of a phone number every time you dial it, because that’s the way you were taught and it’s just habit, rather than using available technology like speed dial and contact lists. Heh - I do this, I often fund it is quicker than searching through the contact list! ---
**Author:** ![Surly\_Chick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ec9cab/32.png) [@Surly\_Chick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surly_Chick)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spaces-between-sentences/554703/59 "2010-09-23T15:49:13Z")
Two. I can’t help myself. I worked with two guys who shared an office and one was a one-spacer and the other was a two-spacer. They used to drive each other crazy. Every time Two-spacer was typing something, he’d say to One-spacer, “Hear that?? \ That’s me putting two spaces after a period. As it should be.” ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 3:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spaces-between-sentences/554703/60 "2010-09-23T15:57:16Z")
Two spaces still seems to be standard in most legal drafting. Maybe it’s a hangover from the days when everyone wrote in Courier. Our most common style guide addresses when to put one space vs. no space in an abbreviation, but I don’t think it takes a position on spaces at the end of a sentence. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spaces-between-sentences/554703.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spaces-between-sentences/554703.md?page=4)