To Double Space or Not After a Period?

Are there two spaces after a punctuation mark or only one space? The age-old grammatical question that has plagued the minds of students and writers will finally be answered in this post!

If you belong to the generation that learned how to type using a typewriter, then you are accustomed to the grammatical rule of placing two spaces after every punctuation mark. When manual typewriters dominated the world of written communication, the two-space rule applied because it allowed for better readability and easy reading of the standard font that was being used. However, once computers supplanted typewriters as the prevailing instrument for typing, the one-space rule became the standard, replacing the quondam double space rule. The wide range of fonts that became available on the computer led to the switch of only using one-space after every sentence.

Despite a history of this typographical inconsistency, we are now living in a one-space world. The modern day writer should place only one space after every period in all writing domains, including HTML and blogging platforms. The single space has been adopted as one of the canonical rules of typography. Prominent guides for the mechanics of style in writing, such as the Chicago Manual of Style and the Modern Language Association Style Manual, also recommend a single space after a period in published works and written pieces. Share this reminder with your child and let them know we are officially living in a one-space world.