Spaces After A Period

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.

Spaces after a period. Two spaces were once the norm. Two spaces between sentences is too many. Before computers and word processors were prevalent most people relied on typewriters. The style choice will now be marked as an error in microsoft word and users who press the space bar.

Double spacing after every period used to be standard. Cnn microsoft has made its typographical decree. But if a closing quotation mark immediately follows any one of these marks don t insert a space between the two marks. Here s how that looks in american english.

John said he was tired. The point is it s not only widely accepted it s expected that you use only one space after a period. Once considered an advanced form of technology themselves older typewriters were known to produce uneven or unpredictable line spacing. The story of spaces after periods is often told as though monospaced typewriter fonts needed two spaces after a sentence for good readability and that the wide availability of proportional fonts on computers led to the switch to one space.

And according to nearly all stylebooks including the associated press stylebook and the chicago manual of style you always use a single space after a period.