My wife who is 5 years younger than me is saying she was taught one space after a period. Since I can remember, I've done two but only recently is msft word telling me I'm wrong. Feels like the comma wars.

This has come up now because I got 5 points off a college paper for bad spelling/punc/grammar and it gotta believe it's the punctuation....

I'm reading the replies and feel like I'm taking crazy pills.

My guess is that there was a time in the early days of (commercial) computers where we still adhered to typewriter rules before it changed at some level.

BUT I did plenty of writing and PowerPoints when getting my BS 10 years ago and NOTHING. That is the discrepancy I am having trouble with when everyone says two spaces went away with typewriters.

@L_D_G
Always 2 spaces after a period-I was an English major and English teacher, middle school to college.
My daughter ( in college-English major) says now it’s 1 space 🤷🏻‍♀️ I still use 2😏

@mockingbird @L_D_G

Yes, the 2 spaces after a period came to be in the typewriter days. However, it also enables the READER to clearly see when one sentence ends & another begins. When you have to read a full page or lengthy description, it's hard to read.

Yes, the 2 spaces after a period came to be in the typewriter days.However, it also enables the READER to clearly see when one sentence ends & another begins.When you have to read a full page or lengthy description, it's hard to read.

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@QueenOfEverything @mockingbird @L_D_G
I agree. But the computer changes the width of the spaces to justify the ends of the lines if you have both right and left margins justified, so you lose the advantage. And they made it one space for all typing even if the right margin isn't justified.

But I don't think anyone should criticize anyone else for using two spaces. They should just be consistent.

@AlphaCentauri @mockingbird @L_D_G

I didn't know the computer changes the width of the spaces with right & left margins justified.

omg- i'm soooo old!

Way back in the times of yore, I wrote a lot of radio commercials & copy. So I wrote copy to be easily read by on air talent.

It affected my writing for the reast of my life. I don't write long paragraphs... I create easy to understand short paragraphs with 1-2 key points.

I'm sure my punctuation violates the proper rules.

😎

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