One space or two after a period ending a sentence? ( Oxford commas now in the news) (1 Viewer)

[Kafka]

Two spaces, no Oxford comma.

What about the Cambridge comma? Huh?  Three spaces?

 

[Bottomfeeder Sports]

I was banging away on the keyboard programming on my Atari 800XL years before a could have taken a typing class.

You play Star Raiders without turning on the shields at all.

 

[Ned]

One.

People who mess this up irritate me.

Two.

People who mess this up irritate me.

People that are irritated by an extra sliver (or lack) of white space irritate me.

 

[Jayrod]

I do two spaces still, but only break out the Oxford comma on special occasions.

 

[Ignoramus]

I disagree. I'm a firm believer in both the Oxford comma and one space. One space isn't just aesthetics. It's correct.

Two spaces is also correct.  It's a matter of preference.

 

[Captain Quinoa]

One if by land, two if by sea.

 

[Warrior]

Funny to see that the majority of people in this thread are dead wrong.

Unless you're using a 1960's typewriter, the answer is ONE.

That's not opinion, it's fact. Saying two is like sticking to your "the world is flat" argument years after it's been disproven.

 

[kutta]

Two spaces is also correct.  It's a matter of preference.

Two spaces is correct if you are typing on a typewriter.

 

[Politician Spock]

You play Star Raiders without turning on the shields at all.

RIngs a bell. Miner 2049er wasted most of my time. That and MIcro League Baseball.

 

[Politician Spock]

So for you two spacers, do you leave two spaces after a period when you write?

 

[pandora]

Two

 

[Sinn Fein]

On Apple's iOS autocorrect, if you hit the space bar twice, it will insert a period, followed by a single space.

BTW - didn't we already have this discussion on here?  Seems like this was a big deal after one of the software updates.

 

[Sinn Fein]

I read an article recently arguing that the reason most commonly given for using one space instead of two after a period -- namely, that two spaces were appropriate when using typewriters with fixed-width fonts, but are out of place when using modern word processors with variable-width fonts -- is mostly BS. But faulty justifications aside, the practice is still a good one because a single space looks better.

A couple of posts from Smoo in the "one space or two space" after a period thread. Smoo, I'm not posting this to dog on you at all, I just really am seeing the similarity here. Convention is convention. Why bother looking for the logic?

I can't find the 2005 thread - other than this reference to Smoo's Post, which incidentally was quoted as:

  Smoo said:
1 is correct, 2 looks better, and nobody cares.

 

[MarvinTScamper]

I can't believe two is winning this. I thought it was settled that it was one. It should be. Please, everyone, just use one. Its all that's needed.

:rofl: "Please, everyone, just use one"  - as though the world will somehow improve.

 

[Leroy Hoard]

I can't find the 2005 thread - other than this reference to Smoo's Post, which incidentally was quoted as:

1 is correct, 2 looks better, and nobody cares.

If Smoo does not care then it would be silly for me to care.

 

[Mr. Ected]

Oxford comma, important!

 

[Foosball God]

Print 2, electronic 1

 

[Bull Dozier]

All I know is on my Android phone, when I hit space twice, it puts in the period.  I'm certainly not breaking the habit of two spaces with that reinforcement. 

 

[tommyboy]

-5^2 =  25

 

[pandora]

-5^2 =  -25

Fixed

 

[Shutout]

To recap and make an important distinction, single space is correct and it is actually been that way since the late 19th/early 20th century. It was actually the manual typewriter (not the electric) that cause a hiccup in the mid-20th century. It's mono space set was the issue as was stated above but it's important to remember when we talk about people of a certain age (40+) using the double. 

Those of us in that age range happened to be taught on those old machines that caused the hiccup and then it lingered. If you have a 90-something relative who never adopted the mid-century style, there's a good chance they do it correctly if they type on electronic devices.  

 

[RCon]

Re: the Oxford comma...

https://qz.com/932004/the-oxford-comma-a-maine-court-settled-the-grammar-debate-over-serial-commas-with-a-ruling-on-overtime-pay-for-dairy-truck-drivers/

 

[pandora]

Still two.

 

[DaVinci]

Re: the Oxford comma...

https://qz.com/932004/the-oxford-comma-a-maine-court-settled-the-grammar-debate-over-serial-commas-with-a-ruling-on-overtime-pay-for-dairy-truck-drivers/