Do I Put One Or Two Spaces Between Sentences?
Got an editing question? Author Katie O’Sullivan has an answer!
If you have a question for Katie you can email her at katie.osullivan@yahoo.com
One of our CWO readers writes:
Back in school, they taught us to put two spaces between sentences. Now my editor is telling me that’s wrong. Who’s right?
It depends. Are you using a typewriter or a computer keyboard?
The convention is to put two spaces between sentences to separate them when using a font that isn’t “proportional,” like Courier. Old-fashioned typewriters often used Courier.
However, most fonts and word processing programs today automatically use proportional spacing, so there’s no need to add two spaces. Ever.
Every major style guide, including the Chicago Manual of Style, will tell you to use a single space after a period. So it’s not your editor being a grump. (At least not this time.)
There is a classic rant against “two spacers” in Slate magazine which I urge you to read if you don’t believe little ol’ me.
And even if you do believe me – and already knew about the one space rule – read it because it’ll make you smile. Because you knew you were right all along.
CWO Mail Bag
Katie O’Sullivan lives on Cape Cod, drinking way too much coffee and inventing new excuses not to dust.
Living next to the Atlantic influences everything she writes, from her YA series about mermaids to her contemporary romances for The Wild Rose Press.
A recovering English major, she earned her degree at Colgate University and now writes romance and adventure for young adults, and something steamier for the young at heart.
