Single Space or Double Space
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@Dashrender said:
@thanksaj said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@thanksaj said:
@scottalanmiller said:
Was just typing an etc. in the middle of a sentence and realized that without single spacing between words and double spacing at the end of a sentence that you cannot tell when etc. is mid sentence or at the end of a sentence!
Context.
That's a nice thought but that is not how punctuation works and it is very hard to determine context in many cases. One major case is that grammar checkers can't figure out what is going on. There should be no need for context and under traditional style rules no context was needed. The need for context at all is caused by an oversight by overzealous people who think that changing grammar rules simply for the sake of change and not because of style or logic is a good idea.
Pretty sure context works.
That's not the point. Scott's point - I think - is that the rules were never officially changed. Short of laziness why aren't you putting two spaces at the end of a sentence? Why, perhaps it's because you never took typing class, or you had a horrible teacher who didn't mandate the 'rules' to double space.
I did take a typing class. I was taught single space. Double-spacing is from the typewriter era, which I was not a part of. Single-spacing is the standard.
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@thanksaj said:
I did take a typing class. I was taught single space. Double-spacing is from the typewriter era, which I was not a part of. Single-spacing is the standard.
Double spacing is from the hand written era. It continued into the typewriter era. It continued into the computer era. It's how the language has always been written. It is not an artifact of typewriters no matter what BS someone is trying to sell you.
If your teachers screwed up and taught you wrong that's too bad, but they were wrong. Single space is not and never has been a standard. It's just sloppy and it's like "text speak" on a less sloppy, but still sloppy scale. It's just another "teenage" rebellion against clear, crisp communications. You don't say "u r" or "lol" in formal writing, you don't single space either.
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Handily, single spacing is an easy way to identify people who don't take their own writing as seriously. Although with so many systems either automatically adding spaces or removing them it can be tough to tell who is doing it and who is not.
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Double spacing is only questioned today because of HTML which strips white space. If you are writing in a word process, writing for print or have used computers for any purpose other than HTML then double spacing has always applied and there was never the slightest hint of logic as to why to avoid it.
The web was never designed for quality type reproduction and the lack of double space support is just one artifact of that heritage. Every system meant for quality reproduction does support double spacing. It's an extension of lazy kids who lack all context and think that the web is everything and don't realize why it is lacking on the web and don't realize that double spacing existed always and are used to not using well written documents that they don't realize the importance in both clear communications and in making the written word easier to read.
Sloppy is sloppy. It shows that someone doesn't care about the quality of their output.
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@scottalanmiller said:
Sloppy is sloppy. It shows that someone doesn't care about the quality of their output.
Well, I will give a little to those who were taught wrong, but only as long as they haven't been told the correct way to do it.
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@Dashrender said:
@scottalanmiller said:
Sloppy is sloppy. It shows that someone doesn't care about the quality of their output.
Well, I will give a little to those who were taught wrong, but only as long as they haven't been told the correct way to do it.
And never looked it up. I've been exposed to good writing many times in my life, one bad teacher would not have been enough to cause a problem.
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If you're a casual writer, why would you look it up (and frankly, where would you look it up?)?
Now AJ's not claiming to be a casual writer, but unless someone brought it up, like this thread, why would you go looking for something you don't know is a problem?
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You should run into it in style guides. I've been seeing it over and over again all through elementary school, high school, college, etc. And it seems to even come up in IT forums
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@scottalanmiller said:
You should run into it in style guides. I've been seeing it over and over again all through elementary school, high school, college, etc. And it seems to even come up in IT forums
I've got college manuals and professors, high school teachers, and plenty of other people who have never once made so much as even a comment about single spaced papers.
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I would need to check my the style guide from when I went back for my MS, but my memory tells me that it was not mentioned.
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"Printed words need the relief of a surrounding blank as much as figures in a landscape need background or contrast, perspective or atmosphere." - The Practice of Typography
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"White space is needed to make printing comprehensible." - The Practice of Typography
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Single spacing was adopted to lower the cost of printing, not because it was more readable.
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@JaredBusch said:
I would need to check my the style guide from when I went back for my MS, but my memory tells me that it was not mentioned.
This, writing at the grad level I don't think I encountered this issue. I'd heard about the "controversy" before but never really thought much on it.
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I double spaced everything (English spaced) everything all the way from K through grad school and professional writing and have never had single spacing suggested or mentioned.
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It is now the MLA standard recommendation.
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And the wikipedia article is well cited.
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In summary, I do not care how you think it should be or how you were taught.
It is not how the language is typed, and has not been for years.
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It looks like the style guides have given sway to popular fashion. Double spacing has been the style guide choice for centuries. It would be nice if style guides listed why they changed their own policies.
This article gives a good viewpoint from the Economist.
