# 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:** 4
**Author:** ![Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/7cd45c/32.png) [@Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glory)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spaces-between-sentences/554703/61 "2010-09-23T16:08:57Z")
I learned to type on a manual typewriter (circa 1986) and was taught two spaces after a period. I got a job creating training materials in the late 90s and my manager was an ardent lover of one space and made me correct every document. Now, I’m the training manager who’s a fan of one space after a period. When I get a draft written by someone else that will be used on our training site, I just do a quick find/replace double space to single space. No biggie. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 4:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spaces-between-sentences/554703/62 "2010-09-23T16:29:57Z")
Two. Never used typewriters much, but I learned to type on non-proportional WP software. ---
**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, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spaces-between-sentences/554703/63 "2010-09-23T16:30:22Z")
More impersonally, it depends on the style guide you’re using for your work. The Chicago Manual of Style specifically states there is no instance that more than one consecutive space should appear in an electronic work. If your style guide calls for two, then by all means. Of course, this whole thread illustrates why editors exist: so writers can muck up the rules all they want and a decent document is still produced. 😃 ---
**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, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spaces-between-sentences/554703/64 "2010-09-23T16:32:53Z")
> [@Glory](#): > > When I get a draft written by someone else that will be used on our training site, I just do a quick find/replace double space to single space. No biggie. The nice thing about this is if you run it multiple times, you’ll also catch the guys who sometimes put in 3 or more spaces for no apparent reason. ---
**Author:** ![emmaliminal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7bcc69/32.png) [@emmaliminal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/emmaliminal)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spaces-between-sentences/554703/65 "2010-09-23T16:45:26Z")
My answer to “Why do you care?” is that in certain non-ideal circumstances, two spaces has messed things up. In particular, writers who use two spaces (and other typewriter-style habits, like two hyphens for an em-dash) may use MS Word or some other word-processing program when writing, then send the work to an editor, who uses some other dang program and sends it to the copyeditor who uses a third program. Lather, rinse, & repeat for a few drafts. Then it’s sent to a compositor, who is using a completely different program, and who cares about what the thing looks like on the page, not what it says. A GOOD compositor watches out for any funky issues introduced by the warring word-processing programs, but you don’t always get good compositors. Even then it usually doesn’t matter, but if you toss in crap like tables or sidebars or what have you, and a particularly incompetent or overworked comp, it can get ugly. In short, two spaces all on their own won’t make a bad ugly, but two spaces combined and split and stirred and shaken with all the other crap going on in a complex page can. Outside a professional context, I just don’t like how two spaces looks. 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spaces-between-sentences/554703/66 "2010-09-23T16:58:27Z")
Two, like god intended it and thinking humans execute it. ---
**Author:** ![shy\_kat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@shy\_kat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/shy_kat)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spaces-between-sentences/554703/67 "2010-09-23T17:31:22Z")
I’m another professional editor chiming in to say it should be ONE space. Like others, I change this in many (most?) of the documents I edit, but it’s easier to just run the macro than to bug the authors. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spaces-between-sentences/554703/68 "2010-09-23T17:39:02Z")
I get paid by the word. Nobody’s paying me for all those extra spaces. > [@Tom\_Scud](#): > > > [@Glory](#): > > > > When I get a draft written by someone else that will be used on our training site, I just do a quick find/replace double space to single space. No biggie. > > The nice thing about this is if you run it multiple times, you’ll also catch the guys who sometimes put in 3 or more spaces for no apparent reason. You also get those idiots who use the spacebar instead of the tab key. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spaces-between-sentences/554703/69 "2010-09-23T17:42:39Z")
I’m not an old fogey, but my dad is. He taught me to use two spaces when I was a little kid, and I’ve done it that way ever since. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spaces-between-sentences/554703/70 "2010-09-23T17:45:50Z")
When I learned to type in school – on a typewriter – they taught us two spaces. And even though I know it’s supposed to be one, it’s been hard to break the habit. I voted “one” because I know that’s the accepted style, but I often use two if I’m not concentrating on what I’m typing. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spaces-between-sentences/554703/71 "2010-09-23T17:47:27Z")
Two spaces was what I was taught back in ye olde typing classes in grade school, and that’s the standard I used up through my first job that involved proofreading or editing. Now I use one, because that’s the standard I’m used to. As for why one space is the standard at these companies instead of two, my personal theory is that it’s easier to ensure compliance with. It’s much faster to do a single find/change for two spaces to one than to cycle through all the possible combinations of sentence-terminal punctuation without accidentally getting an extra space in after something that isn’t sentence-terminal. As with all standards, \*consistency \*is key. ---
**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, 5:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spaces-between-sentences/554703/72 "2010-09-23T17:47:33Z")
I’m entertained by how close the poll has been every time I check in. Less entertained by the fact that Two is always just slightly ahead. _Damn you, typewriting class!_ ---
**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, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spaces-between-sentences/554703/73 "2010-09-23T18:01:34Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > > [@delphica](#): > > > > When I have tried to use one, it drags my speed way, way down. > > Only because you’re not used to it. Well yeah, exactly. And I just can’t get that bothered by the two spaces that I would invest the time it would take to get used to it. ---
**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, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spaces-between-sentences/554703/74 "2010-09-23T18:03:55Z")
Fair enough. I just wanted to be clear that there wasn’t anything intrinsic to one space that would make it slower than two other than lack of practice. ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spaces-between-sentences/554703/75 "2010-09-23T18:15:02Z")
Not all typesetting defaults to a single space. Any book typeset in LaTeX uses _nearly_ two spaces (it’s a dedicated glyph for sentence endings somewhere between one and a half and two spaces), unless you tell it otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![pyromyte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d26b3c/32.png) [@pyromyte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pyromyte)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spaces-between-sentences/554703/76 "2010-09-23T18:26:56Z")
> [@Alessan](#): > > You also get those idiots who use the spacebar instead of the tab key. What? I was taught 5 spaces for indent. Why back in my day, the teacher’d up and wack my fingers for using tab to indent. I was learned to only use tab for aligning tables and such. Damn, and I didn’t think I was _that_ old. ETA: Oh, Tab was OK for outlines. ---
**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, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spaces-between-sentences/554703/77 "2010-09-23T18:29:25Z")
> [@pyromyte](#): > > > [@Alessan](#): > > > > You also get those idiots who use the spacebar instead of the tab key. > > What? I was taught 5 spaces for indent. Why back in my day, the teacher’d up and wack my fingers for using tab to indent. I was learned to only use tab for aligning tables and such. Damn, and I didn’t think I was _that_ old. You had a bad teacher, or the software you were learning on used tabbing differently. ---
**Author:** ![pyromyte](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/d26b3c/32.png) [@pyromyte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pyromyte)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spaces-between-sentences/554703/78 "2010-09-23T18:49:03Z")
> [@Bosstone](#): > > > [@pyromyte](#): > > > > What? I was taught 5 spaces for indent. Why back in my day, the teacher’d up and wack my fingers for using tab to indent. I was learned to only use tab for aligning tables and such. Damn, and I didn’t think I was _that_ old. > > You had a bad teacher, or the software you were learning on used tabbing differently. Ha! yeah… to both. It was on a DOS machine, white letters on blue background. Tab spaced over something like 8 characters. She was in her 60’s and she gave us a speed test one time and we were supposed to type the same sentence over and over.. I typed it once, hit SHIFT-HOME, CTRL-C, END, ENTER, CTRL-V, ENTER, CTRL-V, ENTER, etc. filled up my whole screen. She knew I cheated, but couldn’t figure out how. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![kushiel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/bbce88/32.png) [@kushiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kushiel)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2010, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spaces-between-sentences/554703/79 "2010-09-23T18:50:38Z")
I’m 23, and my Mama taught me two spaces, damnit! By the time they gave us our first keyboarding class I was entrenched in two spaces and never changed. Edit: I also hunt and peck. My keyboarding exams were hilarious, because I’d come out near the top for accuracy and speed, and then get horrible marks for my form. ---
**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, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spaces-between-sentences/554703/80 "2010-09-23T18:51:43Z")
> [@kushiel](#): > > I’m 23, and my Mama taught me two spaces, damnit! By the time they gave us our first keyboarding class I was entrenched in two spaces and never changed. And this is why I’m against teaching religion to children. not really [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spaces-between-sentences/554703.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-spaces-between-sentences/554703.md?page=5)