Why do students often type TWO spaces after a period - POLL added

[Towncrier]

No, but I can tell you we weren't allowed to use calculators either! I feel like I went to school in another century...oh wait I did!!!

The "rich" kid in my high school was the first person that I knew that owned a calculator. A RapidMan800. I was still using a slide rule for my first two years in engineering school before my dad bought me a $345 HP scientific calculator.

 

[Miss Jasmine]

Actually, any magazine or newspaper printed in AP style will only have one space. I was taught two spaces in high school, then I majored in journalism in college and learned how to write correctly.

Also, since I'm AP-trained, I use one space in MS Word and it never gives me an error message for that. (For lots of other things, yes, but not for one space.)

That's me, too, except I majored in Public Relations.

 

[Crankyshank]

Actually, any magazine or newspaper printed in AP style will only have one space. I was taught two spaces in high school, then I majored in journalism in college and learned how to write correctly.

Also, since I'm AP-trained, I use one space in MS Word and it never gives me an error message for that. (For lots of other things, yes, but not for one space.)

I have no idea what AP trained means since I never had any source of typing instruction, but I was always told by other people (not instructors) that it was one space after punctuation and have never been corrected by MS Word either.

 

[katerkat]

ETA: It also peeves me when people list stuff in a sentence and put a comma before the word "and." Example: I want breakfast, lunch, and dinner. <-- According to AP style there should be no comma after the word "lunch."
Not sure if MLA calls for this, I couldn't find it online.

A kindred spirit!! I never put that comma before the "and" either.

 

[oxfordcircus]

People, look at basically any newspaper or magazine! Even though you personally choose to double space, the majority of what you're reading is not spaced this way!

Isn't this because the columns are fully justified? I see some strange spacing in newspapers (maybe our locals are terrible editors) that make me think that they are trying to be efficient in light of their justification goals. For example, one long word may be stretched to fit the entire length of a column.

 

[katerkat]

I have no idea what AP trained means since I never had any source of typing instruction, but I was always told by other people (not instructors) that it was one space after punctuation and have never been corrected by MS Word either.

AP is the Associated Press style of writing. (I think!) Basically what every journalism major is beaten into submission to write in.

(Oh, look, I just ended a sentence with a preposition! Bad journalist, bad!)

 

[cardaway]

I'm consfused. There's only one space between each sentence in these posts.

But the space is bigger than that between the letters. If I'm wrong then I apologize, but the manual typewriters didn't do the same thing so people were taught to do this manually by inserting two hits of the space bar which gives you the same space. Once they corrected this issue, even possibly on some electric typewriters, the practice started to go away due to it not beeing needed anymore.

 

[Miss Jasmine]

AP is the Associated Press style of writing. (I think!) Basically what every journalism major is beaten into submission to write in.

(Oh, look, I just ended a sentence with a preposition! Bad journalist, bad!)

Yes, it is the Associated Press style. I still use an AP stylebook even though a lot of my work writing isn't journalism or public relations oriented.

 

[beck0321]

I have no idea what AP trained means since I never had any source of typing instruction, but I was always told by other people (not instructors) that it was one space after punctuation and have never been corrected by MS Word either.

Isn't this because the columns are fully justified? I see some strange spacing in newspapers (maybe our locals are terrible editors) that make me think that they are trying to be efficient in light of their justification goals. For example, one long word may be stretched to fit the entire length of a column.

To answer your questions:
1. AP = Associated Press Stylebook. A guide for journalistic writing.

2. Newspapers and magazines are both forms of journalism, so they are both written in AP Style. Yes newspaper columns are justified to use space more efficiently. You'll see this in magazines as well. But, as someone who works in magazine publishing/editing and news releases, I can assure you that both are written with one space after the period in the original document. Now, once the layout program gets a hold of it, some of spacing may look "off." But for the most part you should still be able to tell what the normal space between the sentences are.

Oh yeah I had to add that the reason some words in the newspaper look long and stretched out is because of the justification. I work in layout, but not for newspapers. Sometimes I'll have this same problem and there are ways to fix it, which I do because it looks strange. I think the problem with newspapers is they have SO MUCH to layout and one day to do it that they don't worry so much about those type of things. I'm sure just as long as the story fits and was typed correctly before being submitted to the layout program, it's fine to them.

 

[Lanshark]

I was taught in typing class that there should be two spaces after a period.

 

[Crankyshank]

You learn something new every day

 

[beck0321]

The only way to know for sure is to ask someone who writes for a living. Oh wait, that's me! But what do I know?!

OK I have to STOP!!!

 

[Free4Life11]

I'm consfused. There's only one space between each sentence in these posts.

I can't believe ONE SPACE is losing by that much! People, look at basically any newspaper or magazine! Even though you personally choose to double space, the majority of what you're reading is not spaced this way!

Thank you! Nothing I read on a regular basis uses this double space technique.

 

[momof3littlelilos]

I was taught two spaces after a period, one space after a comma.

This is what I was taught also.

 

[Jeanny]

I was taught two spaces after a period, one space after a comma.
If you have your edit on (that backwards P up on the tool bar), you'll get a green thingy telling you to check your grammar, etc., once you put another space in, the green thingy goes away.

the Dis allows 2 spaces. Or at least, I've never had a problem.

Newspapers don't use 2 spaces, they're limited as to what they have to cram into a column

 

[Pin Wizard]

I must have missed something in high school because any time I have done a group project involving a typed report, whoever types it always uses 2 spaces after a period! It drive me nuts -- what is the point? I've always type one space after a period. What is the logic behind using two spaces. This happens anytime I have done a group paper. Am I missing something here?

I did learn that when typing an address you should type two spaces after the state abbreviation (before the Zipcode). But new two spaces after a period...??

It's always been two spaces after a period. I guess you missed it. Maybe you were sick that day!

 

[Free4Life11]

Every sentence I am typing in this post will have two spaces after the period. See? I must be blind though, because when I read posts, I *never* see two spaces after the period. Does this look like two spaces?

 

[Cool-Beans]

The correct way to space is one after a comma, two after a period. Newspapers do all kinds of goofy things to make things fit.

If you like to read, you'll have some novels in your house. Open one up and you'll find one space after commas and two spaces after periods.

I love the DIS, but it drives me nuts by deleting spaces after sentences.

 

[hidmickey:myantidrug]

I'm currently a high school sophomore and we have ALWAYS been taught 2 spaces after a period. Even when we were being taught to write we did two finger spaces to represent the amount of space to use after a period and one for after commas. As a freshman I took a keyboarding class and nothing had changed.

 

[katerkat]

Oh yeah I had to add that the reason some words in the newspaper look long and stretched out is because of the justification. I work in layout, but not for newspapers. Sometimes I'll have this same problem and there are ways to fix it, which I do because it looks strange. I think the problem with newspapers is they have SO MUCH to layout and one day to do it that they don't worry so much about those type of things. I'm sure just as long as the story fits and was typed correctly before being submitted to the layout program, it's fine to them.

It is something we really try to watch for in newspaper layout, but we're not perfect. I did layout in college and at my first "real" paper, and you're right - we have limited time and a lot to do. We usually did six to ten pages of local news, plus national/international/etc pages, in 8 hours with three to four people. (That's just the news, too, not sports and real estate and such.) And considering that the deadline for local stories was 10 pm and the paper hit the presses at midnight... Sometimes getting the stories into the space is the goal by deadline, not making it look the prettiest.