The Importance of Correct Punctuation

[sniffles]

I can say that authoritively.

How about saying it authoritatively?

This is an interesting thread. I had in fact never heard of putting only one space after a period. My English and creative writing instructors in college would have shot me for putting only one space. I still automatically put two spaces; I think I would be hard pressed to stop hitting the space bar twice. That's how I learned to type (30 years ago).

Now can we address my pet punctionational (is that a word?) peeve: misuse of apostrophes?

 

[reveal]

So please stop saying that it's all just a matter of taste. It's all a matter of having taste.

Remind me never to work for you. Apparently you will not let anyone have their own tastes and think that people who don't do it your way have none.

 

[fanboy2000]

Know your audience

The first rule of composition is: Know your audience.

If you're a college student and you have one professor that wants 2 spaces after a period, they get a paper with 2 spaces after a period. If another professor wants only 1 space, they get a paper with just 1 space after each period.

If I'm writing a research paper and I know the professor follows the MLA standards for research papers, that's what I follow.

If I'm writing a paper for an academic journal, I follow their standards.

If I'm submitting work to Steve Jackson Games, I will go to their website and meticulously follow every one of their suggestions and style guidelines.

It doesn't matter what you learned in high school or college english classes in the past if you get a bad grade in the present or get a manuscript turned down in the future.

Oh, sense I can't spell to save my life, I run everything through two spell checkers: an electronic one and a human one.

 

[Desdichado]

The authority in the design world is the Chicago Manual of Style. It was the Bible at the last advertising agency I worked at. It was referenced before, but I will post it again:

Ah, so you don't work for any organization that dictates standards, nor do you work for an organization that really has anything to do with the standards at all other than that they picked one and dictated it to you. I see.

So, to summarize, all the available references about whether you can use two spaces after a period say one of two things. Either "Don't do it," or "Try not to do it." So please stop saying that it's all just a matter of taste. It's all a matter of having taste.

Uh, no, I don't think I will. Even I --who do not care overly much about formalized style guides-- realize that there are more than one competing standard in the world of publishing.

 

[reveal]

How about saying it authoritatively?

He didn't say he was an expert on proper words.

 

[reveal]

http://ucp.uchicago.edu:2001/search...&Collection=C90&ResultStart=1&ResultCount=10&

Just to clarify:

Q. Help. How many spaces do you leave after a colon in a manuscript?

A. One space after a colon. There is a traditional American practice, favored by some, of leaving two spaces after colons and periods. This practice is discouraged by the University of Chicago Press, especially for formally published works and the manuscripts from which they are published.

Emphasis mine. Notice it doesn't say "THERE IS ONLY ONE ING SPACE AFTER THE ING PERIOD!" It says it's discouraged.

Oh, the person who answers the question also says:

So, in our efficient, modern world, I think there is no room for two spaces after a period. In the opinion of this particular copyeditor, this is a good thing.

Again, emphasis added. And, yes, the University of Chicago Press is the company that publishes the Chicago Manual of Style.

 

[ThirdWizard]

I just checked a bunch of novels, magazines, legal documents, and all sorts of other things around my house. Everything used single spaces after a sentence except one letter I found. Even all my D&D books I looked at (2E and 3E). Who actually still uses two spaces between sentences in print nowadays?

 

[reveal]

I just checked a bunch of novels, magazines, legal documents, and all sorts of other things around my house. Everything used single spaces after a sentence except one letter I found. Even all my D&D books I looked at (2E and 3E). Who actually still uses two spaces between sentences in print nowadays?

I don't know of anyone who does. I don't in my writings. I prefer the single space.

 

[Jdvn1]

I just checked a bunch of novels, magazines, legal documents, and all sorts of other things around my house. Everything used single spaces after a sentence except one letter I found. Even all my D&D books I looked at (2E and 3E). Who actually still uses two spaces between sentences in print nowadays?

It's a subversive counter-culture of excessive spaces!

 

[fanboy2000]

It's a subversive counter-culture of excessive spaces!

Heh heh. I gotta admit, this thread is a little topsy-turvy for me. Usually people are telling me in no uncertain terms that you use 2 spaces after a period, regardless of what them newfangled (is that a word?) computers do. This is the first time anyone's adamantly said 1 space. Of course, I didn't hear about putting 2 spaces after a period until after high school, and I took typing.