The Energon Pub

News Credits: 129 · Fri May 21, 2010 12:46 pm

So, one space or two spaces after ending punctuation? I learned to type on an electric/computerized typewriter. Two spaces after ending punctuation was the rule.

It's different now for a variety of reasons.

MLA reference is here:
http://www.mla.org/style_faq3

Just wondering though.

News Credits: 2 · Fri May 21, 2010 1:00 pm

I learned the same way and was also instructed to place two spaces after ending punctuation. I only use two spaces these days when I'm typing formal letters.

News Credits: 129 · Fri May 21, 2010 1:05 pm

Convotron wrote:I learned the same way and was also instructed to place two spaces after ending punctuation. I only use two spaces these days when I'm typing formal letters.

It's habit now and I can't stop.

My wife is finishing her PhD right now and it came up when putting together paper submissions where they mandate only one space after ending punctuation.

News Credits: 767 · Fri May 21, 2010 1:08 pm

Yup I learned with just one space after punctuation.

News Credits: 129 · Fri May 21, 2010 1:11 pm

Dead Metal wrote:Yup I learned with just one space after punctuation.

You're young and don't know any better!

News Credits: 2 · Fri May 21, 2010 1:13 pm

I gradually broke the habit as I noticed no one else used two spaces at my various workplaces throughout the years.

News Credits: 129 · Fri May 21, 2010 1:16 pm

Convotron wrote:I gradually broke the habit as I noticed no one else used two spaces at my various workplaces throughout the years.

They were old and no one taught them how to type properly!

News Credits: 609 · Fri May 21, 2010 1:18 pm

I learned with two spaces, but switched to one in college. My wife still does two spaces it looks so wrong.

Maybe one day she'll stop.

News Credits: 1 · Fri May 21, 2010 1:33 pm

I taught myself to type by taking BASIC computer classes in High School back in 1985, there wasn't any rules about having an extra space at the end of a period. But this is of course before actual word processing, and many things were still typed on a manual typewriters. This being said, I did notice that while I was helping DJ get his Master's degree, only a few of his papers required a double space, not all of them. His final paper was also single space after the period.

News Credits: 2 · Fri May 21, 2010 1:51 pm

Counterpunch wrote:They were old and no one taught them how to type properly!

Haha, actually, yes! I was a fresh faced lad, naive to how things really were done in the work jungle. The old timers did things their own way and that's how they liked it.

Fri May 21, 2010 2:02 pm

I took a typing class in grade 9 and can't remember at all, but I always heard and hated two spaces after punctuation. At the same time, I also thought it was dumb to put two spaces.

News Credits: 226 · Fri May 21, 2010 2:34 pm

I had a few lessons but was mostly self taught. That being said, I was told two spaces after you end a sentence, and i'm not going to change.

News Credits: 7 · Fri May 21, 2010 3:09 pm

I was given the basics of typing by my dad, but while I was in elementary school I had to take typing lessons (which I've totally ignored), but I was always taught two spaces after ending a sentence and one space after other punctuators

News Credits: 1452 · Fri May 21, 2010 4:13 pm

Yikes, I've never heard of this two spacing nonsense. Very odd...

News Credits: 33 · Fri May 21, 2010 8:24 pm

I taught myself using "Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing" for DOS when I was about 11\12 years old. I learnt with two spaces. Just realised I'm still doing it now.

News Credits: 9 · Fri May 21, 2010 8:42 pm

When I got into Junior High in grade 8 (1987) there was a dedicated room of typewriters for teaching typing. By the beginning of Grade 9, the school board had realized that typewriters were going the way of the dodo. The year I would have taken a proper course, it had already been removed from the available class list.

Typing teachers never taught with computers, Computer teachers never bothered worrying about typing as long as you were completing assignments.

To be completely honest, between schooling and years of working in offices (both private and government) this is the first time I have ever heard of that rule.

News Credits: 3 · Fri May 21, 2010 8:46 pm

In school i had computer classes from 2nd-11th grade. We 2 different districts and 5 schools all taught me 1 space after a period. I've had my share of typing classes

I've seen people type with 2 spaces, but I was never taught that way.

News Credits: 1 · Sat May 22, 2010 7:33 am

Two spaces after a period. I almost always type that way.

Sat May 22, 2010 9:00 am

Always two spaces.

Sat May 22, 2010 7:13 pm

I was taught two spaces and always have two spaces. It doesn't matter what I am typing nor to whom. It is always two spaces.

Sat May 22, 2010 8:46 pm

I was taught the old skool way on old skool typerwriters by a teacher who couldn't stand me looking at my fingers so put a bib over them.

I was taught two spaces after a period. There's a few other quirks I've noticed that I was taught were wrong but are now being used a lot.

Frankly, people laugh at my old skool skillz. But hey, I'm the one typing 100 - 120wpm with 100% accuracy if I'm copying from something.

News Credits: 2 · Sat May 22, 2010 11:57 pm

I guess like a lot of people my typing was taught by computer usage.

I don't type with all fingers mostly I use my pointer and middle finger on my right hand and my pointer on my left hand. Which accounts for the occasional spelling errors and slow typing...but I'm not stunningly slow which I'll also credit my job taking phone orders for the building of my speed from.....p...e...c...k...a...n...d...s...e...e..k to at least managable to take billing and shipping information without looking stupid and needing to have it repeated over and over again.

I do look at the keys when I type...is that odd?

Oh and I leave one space...that's how MSWord does it, that's how America does it and its worked pretty well so far.

Sun May 23, 2010 5:40 am

I took typing in middle school on Tandy computers. I think they were 286's

I learned two spaces after sentence-ending punctuation. This is how I type, and I will do so until corrected by a professor who requires me to do otherwise. The last high school student whom I mentioned the two-space rule to had never heard of it.

News Credits: 104 · Sun May 23, 2010 5:47 am

Convotron wrote:I learned the same way and was also instructed to place two spaces after ending punctuation. I only use two spaces these days when I'm typing formal letters.

Same here..

Sun May 23, 2010 5:52 am

NOBODY LOVES WHEELIE wrote:Oh and I leave one space...that's how MSWord does it, that's how America does it and its worked pretty well so far.

I am an American and, as I stated earlier, I was taught and still use two spaces. Therefore, your generalization of the typing styles of the entire American people is incorrect. I was taught to type on a computer in my freshman year of high school back in 1996. My college professors also confirmed that two spaces should be used in order for any body of literary work to appear professional. I, personally, have grown so accustomed to placing two spaces that I do so even in texts and posts on this site.