#REMOVE PERIOD AFTER TWO SPACES IA WRITER FULL#
Eventually, sophisticated typewriters and word processing software like Microsoft Word introduced proportional fonts, which made it easier to distinguish the period at end of a sentence as a full stop. The two-space rule took hold in the early twentieth century and became the norm in many high school typing classes. Why two spaces after period is wrong?īecause we’ve all switched to modern fonts, adding two spaces after a period no longer enhances readability, typographers say. Even the APA, the staunchest defender of the double space over the decades, changed their stance on the issue in 2019. According to every major style guide you’ll find, the rule is a single space after a period or any other punctuation mark you use to end a sentence. Do you put 1 space or 2 spaces after a period?
#REMOVE PERIOD AFTER TWO SPACES IA WRITER MANUAL#
The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA) was the only style guide that overtly recommended two spaces after a period, and even that long-time holdout for two spaces changed its guideline to one space in its 2019 update. Nearly all style guides agree that one space is correct. Need help with fixing spacing issues in your work? A good grammar checker saves hours.2. This is the case with all modern text communication, as proportionate fonts automatically add the right amount of spaces. The Final Word on How Many Spaces After a Period If you get to the end of a document and realize that you have included two spaces throughout, you can simply do a find and replace to remove two spaces and insert one. So does some of the best typing software.īecause of these cues, people are unlikely to have issues even if they do have trouble switching from one space after a period to two. Facebook strips the second space out when posters use it. In Microsoft Word, two spaces is now underlined as an error. Luckily, many applications now either remind users of the error or automatically correct it. Two spacers may find it hard to switch from automatically tapping the space bar twice to using only adding one at the end of a sentence. This is because proportional fonts automatically adjust the space to fit the characters and the punctuation. Unfortunately, the use of two spaces is no longer correct and can even throw off the appearance of your final document.Īdding two spaces with proportional fonts can look unnatural. On their website, they call for one space. However, CMOS has called for one space since at least their 13th edition. Still others proposed formal reviews to bring two spaces back, at least as an acceptable alternative. I declare it once and for all aesthetically more appealing to have two spaces after a period.” As a US Marine, I know that what’s right is right and you are wrong. One commenter on The Chicago Manual of Style Q&A “ One Space of Two?” remarked: Many people who were taught two spaces have a hard time giving it up. You will still put a single space after each sentence.
The rules remain the same in a double-spaced document–that is, one with extra space between lines. The rules for commas, semi-colons, and colons have not changed. This group includes exclamation points, periods, and question marks. Since the spacing rules for periods have changed, are other types of punctuation affected? You’ll be pleased to learn that the single space rule applies across the board for stopping punctuation. In their 2019 update, they changed their rule from two spaces to one. The last holdout was the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association (APA). Most style guides changed years or decades ago. These automatically make the right amount of space, negating the need for the two-space rule. In digital spaces, every input is in proportional fonts. Adding the extra space made it easier to read. If you used only one space, you would wind up with sentences that looked cramped and squeezed together. Two spaces after a period increased readability. This is because typewriters give every character the same amount of space on the page. On typewriters, two spaces after a period are required and correct. Typewriters give every character the same amount of space on the page known as monospace typesetting