Spaces after a Period...

[Mooga]

When writing a paper, how many spaces do you put after a period? One or two?

[Hawk Eye]

I use two.

[Mooga]

Oh good!
Everyone thought I was crazy!!!

[zSilver_Fox]

I believe that two is gramatically correct, and it helps when you're judged by page length. Though I just use one when typing for ease of use.

[Innoc]

two in a paper....one in a text message if I'm running short on space...

[KubeDawg]

I don't use spaces. I just use the next line for every sentence.

[Lost]

Two after sentences in the body of the paper, one after any period in your works cited. Neat thing about Word is that if you use two spaces and forget to capitalize, it'll do it for you too.

[Bully]

I got all the way through University using one, two looks awkward and wrong.

[battery]

punctuations_are_obsolete_just_use_underscores_to_ separate_words_and_sentences_Tip_brough_to_you_by_ the_MLA_handbook_
________
Volcano digital

[Lost]

Originally Posted by Bully

I got all the way through University using one, two looks awkward and wrong.

Most professors interested in content won't care about the number of spaces so long as its easy to read, like biology or chem shit. Get into a literature class where the prof breaks out a ruler for the margins, then you better stick to the rules like your ass depends on it, because it does. Imagine a stickler that pulls a point off for every mis-spaced sentence, you're fucked before he even bothers to read it, lol.

[Ihmhi]

What the hell is this shit?

Here's how I was taught how to write in school. See how I put one space after a period? That's all you need. Where the hell did this double space shit come from?

And then there's those motherfuckers who fuck with lists. For instance, they want you to put it like "Skanky is a terrifying, angry and fearsome bastard." But go ahead and say that. Anyone I know who would read that sentence would say "terrifying [pause] angry [pause] and fearsome bastard." If only we had some sort of punctuation device to signify a pause in a sentence OH WAIT A COMMA!

Fuck you, grammar scholarnazis. When I want to say that you're a bunch of pedantic, asinine, and dickless pansies I will add in that extra comma that should never have been taken away just to watch you cringe. Eat a dick!

I cannot understand the insanity of changing the rules of our language after its been around for several hundred years. There's no good reason to do it. As I see it, language should be reflect the way that people speak. If someone were to read a sentence out loud they shouldn't come out sounding like they have half a cucumber jammed in their cheeks because they're pausing at the wrong places or not pausing at all.

COMMAS, MOTHERFUCKER!

[Sh4x]

I was taught to put 2 spaces after a period. I think it's easier to read this way. I just hate the fact that these forums remove the 2nd space, that's pretty dumb. If I want to put 2 spaces after a period, I should be allowed to.

[FrenchToast]

Two spaces, if you're writing in english.

[Sh4x]

Or french.

[mervaka]

i think on a modern word processor you should use one, and let styles make the larger space.

but yeah, it should be two, technically speaking.

[battery]

Originally Posted by Ihmhi

Fuck you, grammar scholarnazis. When I want to say that you're a bunch of pedantic, asinine, and dickless pansies I will add in that extra comma that should never have been taken away just to watch you cringe. Eat a dick!

I cannot understand the insanity of changing the rules of our language after its been around for several hundred years. There's no good reason to do it. As I see it, language should be reflect the way that people speak. If someone were to read a sentence out loud they shouldn't come out sounding like they have half a cucumber jammed in their cheeks because they're pausing at the wrong places or not pausing at all.

COMMAS, MOTHERFUCKER!

Well, we need to have some excuses to scorn at uneducated individuals in this educated society.
________
MEDICAL MARIJUANA PATIENTS

[SizeableSSonic]

...you can use two?

[uBeR]

I am with the majority of typographers, authors, academics, and manuals of styles in that I use a single space after full stops. This applies to everything I write, electronic or otherwise. Two spaces after a full stop is simply ugly and I would consider it an abrogation of the written American English syntax. You'll also notice, most electronic applications will convert double spaces into single spaces after a full stop, simply because it looks better that way. (For example, on this forum, those posts written with two spaces after full stops still appear to the reader to have only one space.)

I also prefer the serial comma. Everyone writing in English ought to, as the Oxford and Harvard University Presses would indicate. I think it makes reading lists a whole lot clearer. ("Dogs, cats and rabbits," for example, looks retarded.) There might be some instances where the serial comma causes ambiguity, but that's typically rare and can actually usually be avoided.

[Skanky Butterpuss]

MLA format is 2 spaces.

also i agree with Ihmhi on that comma shit. why they decided to remove that comma is beyond me, but it is a rule i do not believe in, so i dont follow it.

[uBeR]

Originally Posted by MLA

How many spaces should I leave after a period or other concluding mark of punctuation?

Publications in the United States today usually have the same spacing after a punctuation mark as between words on the same line. Since word processors make available the same fonts used by typesetters for printed works, many writers, influenced by the look of typeset publications, now leave only one space after a concluding punctuation mark. In addition, most publishers' guidelines for preparing electronic manuscripts ask authors to type only the spaces that are to appear in print.

Because it is increasingly common for papers and manuscripts to be prepared with a single space after all punctuation marks, this spacing is shown in the examples in the MLA Handbook and the MLA Style Manual.