Catching Up

Trying to get back into the rhythm of writing again.

How many spaces between sentences?

For those of you who read this, you may notice that I still use two spaces after the punctuation between sentences.  All the major style guides say the rule is a single space after a period or any other punctuation mark used at the end of a sentence.

So why do I insist on using two spaces?  A few reasons.

1. I’m old school and learned to type on a typewriter about 60 years ago.  My instructor told us to use two spaces at the end of a sentence that was not the end of the paragraph.  Old habits die hard.
2. I learned to typeset a few years later.  In typesetting, we learned to use different size spacing slugs based on where on a line the space was needed.  This was especially useful when setting lines that were justified on both ends where we might add copper or brass slugs to get the spacing visually pleasing.  In between words we used a ½ pica slug called an en‑space.  For the end of a sentence, we used our largest space (only 1) that was a full pica in width, called an em‑space.  Note however, that it was twice the space between words.  You can mimic the old typesetting on a computer by reducing the font size of the spaces to half the font size of the letters (a lot of work).  Or you can maintain the old typewriting standard of two spaces at the end of the sentence.
3. I’m very near-sighted.  So, it’s particularly difficult for me to see the difference between a comma, and a period (unless I increase the size on screen 400% or more).  The two spaces at the end of a sentence makes it easier for me to distinguish between the two types of punctuation.

There is a very easy way to convert from two spaces at the end of a sentence to one space, or vice-versa, if required.  Simply use a global change.  I increase this on manuscripts I’m asked to read so I can tell whether I’m looking at a comma or a period.  For editors who request single space, I do the opposite change on the copy of the manuscript before submission.  It's more important to provide the style requested than to insist on one way or another.