# One or Two Spaces After a Full Stop? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 6, 2006, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-or-two-spaces-after-a-full-stop/347283 "2006-03-06T19:46:27Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-or-two-spaces-after-a-full-stop/347283/21 "2006-03-06T22:18:09Z")
Here’s a link to an [old GQ thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=51697) on the issue. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-or-two-spaces-after-a-full-stop/347283/22 "2006-03-06T22:46:38Z")
In MS Word: \-H, Find what: [two spaces], Replace with: [one space], Replace All. Repeat as needed. I do this (among other style changes) with all MSS I get from other writers. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-or-two-spaces-after-a-full-stop/347283/23 "2006-03-06T22:52:34Z")
> [@commasense](#): > > If you’re using an old-fashioned typewriter, two spaces. On a computer, just one. Word processing programs automatically set the sentence spacing correctly with one space. There’s no need for the second. > [@missbunny](#): > > I don’t know what word-processing programs you guys are using or what fonts, but none of the fonts I’ve tried automatically make one-space-after-a-period look “right.” They all look like there’s one space. It’s hard to read. So, I always put two spaces. I’m with **missbunny**. Word doesn’t make the spacing after full-stops look right, not to my eyes, and I always double-space. With fixed width fonts, the full stop itself creates the appearance of some extra space, so a single subsequent space can look fine. ---
**Author:** ![Necros](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/necros/32/11086_2.png) [@Necros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Necros)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 11:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-or-two-spaces-after-a-full-stop/347283/24 "2006-03-06T23:12:24Z")
Former newspaper journalist here. Always have done one space, as has every other journalist I have ever known. It helps you put more words to the column inch. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-or-two-spaces-after-a-full-stop/347283/25 "2006-03-06T23:28:42Z")
Monospaced font (e.g., Courier, Prestige): two spaces Proportional font (most everything else): one space. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [March 6, 2006, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-or-two-spaces-after-a-full-stop/347283/26 "2006-03-06T23:32:20Z")
I had typing class in high school in the late 60’s. We used one space. I never heard of two spaces until sometime within the last year. I figured it was some new-fangled internet phenomenon. ---
**Author:** ![DeadlyAccurate](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ac91a4/32.png) [@DeadlyAccurate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadlyAccurate)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2006, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-or-two-spaces-after-a-full-stop/347283/27 "2006-03-07T00:45:24Z")
One space. None of my editors have ever insisted on two spaces, but some have insisted on one (saves a few pages of paper in the long run.) ---
**Author:** ![Khadaji](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Khadaji](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Khadaji)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2006, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-or-two-spaces-after-a-full-stop/347283/28 "2006-03-07T01:09:01Z")
> [@Gary T](#): > > I had typing class in high school in the late 60’s. We used one space. > > I never heard of two spaces until sometime within the last year. I figured it was some new-fangled internet phenomenon. Weird. I had typing class in high school in the late 70’s and we were taught two spaces. And that is what I use. I don’t recall if there was an explanation. ---
**Author:** ![FlyingRamenMonster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@FlyingRamenMonster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FlyingRamenMonster)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2006, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-or-two-spaces-after-a-full-stop/347283/29 "2006-03-07T04:52:35Z")
My computing teacher insisted I do it in 4th grade. So I did, and never stopped. Most places on the internet the two spaces become one, though. ---
**Author:** ![initech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/439d5e/32.png) [@initech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/initech)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2006, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-or-two-spaces-after-a-full-stop/347283/30 "2006-03-07T05:17:40Z")
**RealityChuck** is correct. I was taught in multiple college typography courses (late 80s) that two spaces follow a period in monospaced fonts, one space follows a period in proportional fonts. That said, modern rules seem to favor a single space after the period in _all_ cases, and the two space rule doesn’t have much of a purpose. [Cite](http://www.press.uchicago.edu/Misc/Chicago/cmosfaq/cmosfaq.OneSpaceorTwo.html) ---
**Author:** ![Lama\_Pacos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@Lama\_Pacos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lama_Pacos)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2006, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-or-two-spaces-after-a-full-stop/347283/31 "2006-03-07T05:51:37Z")
Two-spacer, never used a typewriter. I have no idea where I learned this. I don’t think I’ve ever been told explicitly. ---
**Author:** ![Malodorous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47774/32.png) [@Malodorous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malodorous)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2006, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-or-two-spaces-after-a-full-stop/347283/32 "2006-03-07T06:06:38Z")
Even though much of the writing I do gets formatted to a single space after the period by whatever computer context it’s in, I still hit the space bar twice. Honestly I think it’s become sort of a mild mental crutch over the years, hitting the space bar twice helps my brain end one sentence and begin another. When I try and do it the other way it feels weird. ---
**Author:** ![Zoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a4c791/32.png) [@Zoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zoe)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2006, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-or-two-spaces-after-a-full-stop/347283/33 "2006-03-07T06:35:24Z")
I took a touch typing class in high school in the 1950s. Two spaces for me forever. I couldn’t begin to change a fifty year habit. It’s just automatic. ---
**Author:** ![Catfood\_Purrito](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Catfood\_Purrito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catfood_Purrito)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2006, 6:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-or-two-spaces-after-a-full-stop/347283/34 "2006-03-07T06:49:43Z")
Two spaces. That’s how I learned it in high school. Plus, I’m a medical transcriptionist who gets paid by the 65-character line, and spaces count as characters, so heck yeah, two spaces. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![grimpixie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@grimpixie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/grimpixie)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2006, 9:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-or-two-spaces-after-a-full-stop/347283/35 "2006-03-07T09:03:38Z")
I used to use two spaces - but that’s because our University essays were supposed to be “double spaced” and that’s what I thought they meant!! :smack: Now I use one. Grim ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2006, 10:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-or-two-spaces-after-a-full-stop/347283/36 "2006-03-07T10:20:56Z")
Interestingly, all the sentences viewable on this page are spaced apart with only a single space. As previously mentioned, this is because of the way HTML ignores anything more than one space, or interprets a carriage return as a space, etc. I do not find any of the lines written here to be hard to read because of this. Methinks modern technological-based typography has rendered dual-spaced sentence gaps as unnecessary. ---
**Author:** ![Whifton\_Polekitty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/97f17d/32.png) [@Whifton\_Polekitty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Whifton_Polekitty)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2006, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-or-two-spaces-after-a-full-stop/347283/37 "2006-03-07T12:48:50Z")
> [@GuanoLad](#): > > Interestingly, all the sentences viewable on this page are spaced apart with only a single space. > > As previously mentioned, this is because of the way HTML ignores anything more than one space, or interprets a carriage return as a space, etc. > > I do not find any of the lines written here to be hard to read because of this. Methinks modern technological-based typography has rendered dual-spaced sentence gaps as unnecessary. And this is what DRIVES ME UP THE WALL about HTML, being a born-and-bred dyed-in-the-wool 2-spaces-or-die kinda guy. HTML has always looked UGLY no matter what to me (note the “to me”), and it’s because there’s not enough space between the damn sentences. And don’t get me started on the fact that nothing conforms to the A4 size standard. Nothing bugs me more that a paragraph that takes up one line. 80 columns were good enough for my XT, hell, _40_ columns on a IIe! Ah, gimme a stylus and a clay tablet and a very big pigeon… 2 spaces, though, please? ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2006, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-or-two-spaces-after-a-full-stop/347283/38 "2006-03-07T14:11:40Z")
I’ve always done two spaces after a full stop. I’m aware of the current preference for one, but I simply don’t think it is as readable, even with proportional fonts. ---
**Author:** ![Snickers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@Snickers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snickers)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2006, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-or-two-spaces-after-a-full-stop/347283/39 "2006-03-07T15:01:56Z")
Technical writer here - **commasense** is right. On computers, one space, one space only. Learn it, live it, love it. ---
**Author:** ![Jayn\_Newell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jayn\_Newell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jayn_Newell)\ **Post date:** [March 7, 2006, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-or-two-spaces-after-a-full-stop/347283/40 "2006-03-07T15:28:36Z")
I always use two spaces at the end of a sentence. When I was learning to type I was told to do it that way, and I always do now I realise that some programs, like this board, will automatically drop it down to one space anyways, but I do find it makes things easier to read with that extra space in there. I don’t see any reason to train myself out of this habit especially if it is being automatically ‘corrected.’ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-or-two-spaces-after-a-full-stop/347283.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/one-or-two-spaces-after-a-full-stop/347283.md?page=3)