December 20, 2008

1 Space vs. 2 Spaces

I went to a workshop a few weeks ago for proofreading, grammar, etc. through work. I think the main reason that I went to this workshop is because a secretary at the High School wanted to go to it and no one would go with her. So, I went......

While there, I really didn't think I learned much. I do know the workings of grammar, spelling and proofreading (I sometimes just don't choose to follow them!).


The company that offers the workshop, also offers some great deals on books and materials that you could purchase elsewhere, but these are highly discounted. So my fellow district employee and I decided to purchase the 10th Edition of the Gregg Reference Manual. Mine arrived the other day. I had been looking forward to receiving it. Sometimes you just have a question about punctuation or capitalization and the book would answer your question quickly.

While glancing at the book, I came across this on page 5, section 102:

"As a general rule, use one space after the period at the end of a sentence, but switch to two spaces whenever you feel a stronger visual break between sentences is needed."

Huh!? What?

I type over 120 words per minute! Yup! I have been able to do this since I was 16 years old and since yesterday, was my 48th birthday.....I've been doing this for 32 years the wrong way! There is a rhythm that you get into when you type that fast. You don't think a whole lot, you just type, type, type! So now I have to mess up my rhythm and type one space instead of two at the end of a sentence.

I asked every single person I knew who had taken some form of keyboarding or typing class what they were taught, one space or two????

Everyone told me 'two' spaces is what they had been taught. Apparently, due to the World Wide Web and desktop publishing becoming so popular, they've changed the rule.

So, I've typed this entire passage with one space vs. two spaces and it was difficult. Okay, one spot in the entire post has 2 spaces! Can you see it????


2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Happy Birthday!!! Now, you've caught up with me!!

I couldn't find the two spaces spot. I learnd to type two spaces after every sentence as well but one is easy enough for me. I only type 25 or so words per minute.

Jennifer said...

I remember being told to use 2 spaces, but I've always used one. My husband uses two and it bugs me, lol (he also formats emails like formal letters with indentation and everything, even if it's only one line!)

I could not find the two spaces. (I even copied the whole post into Word and turned on the characters to try to find it! Was that cheating?)