Sentence spacing in language and style guides
Encyclopedia
Sentence spacing guidance is provided in many language and style guides. The majority of style guides that use a Latin-derived alphabet as a language base prescribe or recommend the use of a single space after the concluding punctuation of a sentence in final written works and publications. Some style guides permit the use of a double space in certain circumstances if preferred by the writer. No known U.S. or international style guide (for languages using a Latin-derived alphabet) currently prescribes the use of a double space after terminal punctuation in final or published work.
Due to a widespread misconception regarding proper sentence spacing, notably in languages with Latin-based alphabets, many writers query Internet search engines to determine how many spaces to place between sentences. Although sentence spacing is a matter of typography
, many style and language guides offer guidance on proper sentence spacing, providing a standard for adherents to follow.
Historical style guides before the mid-20th century typically indicated that single, but slightly wider, spaces were to be used between sentences. Standard word spaces were about one-third of an em space, but sentences were to be divided by a full em-space. With the arrival of the typewriter in the late 19th century, style guides for writers began diverging from printer's manuals, indicating that writers should double-space between sentences. This held for most of the 20th century until the computer began replacing the typewriter as the primary means of creating text. In the 1990s, style guides reverted to recommending a single-space between sentences. However, instead of a slightly larger sentence space, style guides simply indicated a standard word space. This is now the convention for publishers.
Style guide
s are important to writers since "virtually all professional editors work closely with one of them in editing a manuscript for publication." Comprehensive style guides, such as the Oxford Style Manual in the United Kingdom and style guides developed by the American Psychological Association
, and the Modern Language Association
in the United States, provide standards for a wide variety of writing, design, and English language topics—such as grammar, punctuation, and typographic conventions—and are widely used regardless of profession.
Many style guides do not provide guidance on sentence spacing. In some cases, the spacing of the volume or work itself provides an indication on the recommendation for usage of sentence spacing. A lack of guidance on sentence spacing is also notable for style guides in languages which did not adopt double sentence spacing to accommodate the mechanical limitations of the typewriter
, and which conform to the current convention for published work, single sentence spacing. Most language guides, for languages with prescriptive guidance provided by an academy, also do not provide advice on sentence spacing.
and grammar as opposed to matters of typography. Style guides are less relevant for these languages
since their academies set prescriptive rules
. For example, the Académie française
publishes the Dictionnaire de l'Académie française
for French
speakers worldwide Although the 1992 edition does not provide guidance on sentence spacing, its text is single sentence spaced throughout—consistent with historical French spacing. The German language manual Empfehlungen des Rats für Deutsche Rechtschreibung
, or "Recommendations of the Council for German Orthography" (2006), does not address sentence spacing. However, the manual itself uses one space after terminal punctuation. This is likely because the double-space convention was not prescribed in historical German language guides. Additionally, the Duden
, the German language dictionary most commonly used in Germany, indicates that double sentence spacing is an error. The Duden was the primary orthography and style guide dictionary in Germany until the German orthography reform of 1996 created a multinational council for German orthography
for German-speaking countries—composed of experts from Germany
, Austria
, Liechtenstein
and Switzerland
. The current version of the Duden reflects the most recent opinions of this council. The Spanish language
is similar. The most important body within the Association of Spanish Language Academies
, the Real Academia Española
, publishes the Diccionario de la Lengua Española
, which is viewed as prescriptive for the Spanish language worldwide. The 1999 edition does not provide sentence spacing guidance, but is itself single sentence-spaced.
's Interinstitutional Style Guide indicates that single sentence spacing is to be used in all European Union publications, encompassing 23 languages. For the English language, the European Commission
's English Style Guide states that sentences are always single-spaced. The Style Manual: For Authors, Editors and Printers (2007), first published in 1966 by the Commonwealth Government Printing Office of Australia, stipulates that only one space is used after "sentence-closing punctuation", and that "Programs for word processing and desktop publishing offer more sophisticated, variable spacing, so this practice of double spacing is now avoided because it can create distracting gaps on a page."
National languages not covered by an authoritative language academy typically have multiple style guides—which may not all discuss sentence spacing. This is the case in the United Kingdom
. However, the Oxford Style Manual (2003) and the Modern Humanities Research Association
's MHRA Style Guide (2002), state that only single spacing should be used.
In Canada
, both the English and French language sections of the Canadian Style, A Guide to Writing and Editing (1997), prescribe single sentence spacing. In the United States, many style guides—such as The Chicago Manual of Style
(2003)—allow only single sentence spacing. A comprehensive style guide for general and academic use in Italy, Il Nuovo Manuale di Stile (2009), does not address sentence spacing, but the Guida di Stile Italiano (2010), the official guide for Microsoft translation, tells users to use single sentence spacing "instead of the double spacing used in the United States".
The Chicago Manual of Style
is a comprehensive and widely used style manual for American English writing, and has been called the "standard of the book publishing industry".
The 16th edition, published in 2010, states, "Like most publishers, Chicago advises leaving a single character space, not two spaces, between sentences ... and this recommendation applies to both the manuscript and the published work." Chicago provides further guidance as follows:
The Turabian Style, published as the Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, is widely used in academic writing. The 7th Edition, published in 2007, stipulates that the use of periods, question marks, and exclamation points as "terminal punctuation" to end a sentence should be followed by a single space.
Until the early 2000s, the Modern Language Association
(MLA) left room for its adherents to single or double sentence space. In 2008, it modified its position on sentence spacing to the following:
, is a widely used style guide that is favored by the social sciences
in the United States. Although 2009 saw a number of changes and reversals for certain aspects of its style recommendations, the current guidance from the American Psychological Association
(APA) as of July 2009 is a recommendation to use two spaces for draft manuscripts and work. This recommendation does not apply "to the published, or final version, of a work", where the spacing convention is determined by the publication designer. Since U.S. publishers of print media typically use the single space convention, this means that drafts prepared with the double-space convention would be converted to the single space convention for final publication. The APA also notes that "the usual convention for published works remains one space after each period", and that the practice of publishers removing extra spaces from a manuscript prior to publication "is a routine part of the manuscript preparation process here at the APA".
, states that "One space, not two, should follow all punctuation that ends a sentence." The 2nd edition of the American Sociological Association Style Guide, published by the American Sociological Association
(ASA), provides guidance to use "only one space after all punctuation–periods and colons should not be followed by two spaces."
, The Bluebook is the "most widely used [legal] citation guide" in the United States. The 2006 version of this guide to legal citations does not directly address spacing after the terminal punctuation of a sentence, although it does provide actual citation examples from court documents—some of which are single-spaced and some of which are double sentence spaced. A key statement in this guide, which addresses possible preferential differences between courts that require document submissions, notes that "Many state and federal courts promulgate local citation rules, which take precedence over Bluebook rules in documents submitted to those courts." Various other legal style guides provide non-committal positions on this topic, such as the 2006 version of the ALWD Citation Manual, which has been "widely adopted by law-school writing courses". This guide provides limited coverage on punctuation, referring readers to other style manuals that prescribe single sentence spacing. The Guide to Legal Writing Style (2007) also does not directly address this topic.
Some legal style guides do provide guidance on sentence spacing, such as the 2009 edition of the AP Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law, and the 2006 edition of The Redbook: A Manual on Legal Style—both of which state that a single space follows terminal punctuation. The Redbook provides further details on the use of this convention: "The custom during the reign of the typewriter was to insert two spaces between sentences" due to the use by typewriters of monospaced fonts that are not effective at creating readable text. It indicates that users could continue the use of two spaces if using a typewriter "or the Courier font", and espouses the advantages of widely available proportional fonts which are degraded by the use of two spaces after terminal punctuation. Of the legal style guides listed in this section, all use proportional fonts with a single space between sentences in their text.
represents over 300 locations worldwide. For copyeditors, the 2nd edition of the Copyeditor's Handbook: A Guide for Book Publishing and Corporate Communications, published in 2006, states that users should "delete any extra word spacing before or after punctuation marks" and that "The conventions are: One space follows a sentence-ending punctuation mark."
Multiple style guides exist within the United States health care industry. The 2007 edition of the AMA Manual of Style is a comprehensive work which includes a separate section on typography. Although the manual does not provide specific guidance regarding sentence spacing, it provides examples of single-spaced journal pages used for American Medical Association
(AMA) publications to show standard AMA elements of design. The 2007 edition of the Health Professional's Style Manual also does not directly address this topic—referring users to specific style manuals such as The Chicago Manual of Style
, the APA
style manual, and the Elements of Style.
The Gregg Reference Manual
is a style manual intended for business professionals. The 1985 edition simply indicated that two spaces were to be used following terminal punctuation
. The most recent edition, published in 2005, provides detailed guidance for sentence spacing. Its general guidance indicates that, "The standard for proportional fonts has always been the same: use only one space between the period and the start of the next sentence" and "now that the standards of desktop publishing predominate, the use of only one space after the period is quite acceptable with monospace fonts." However, although the author states that one space is correct in draft manuscripts for typesetting and most other instances, certain specific cases might benefit from additional space between sentences. For example, "As a general rule, use one space at the end of a sentence, but switch to two spaces whenever you feel a stronger visual break between sentences is needed." The manual identifies specific instances when only one space is to be used between sentences such as "If you are preparing manuscript on a computer and the file will be used for typesetting, use only one space and ignore the issue of visual appearance." The manual indicates that writers should also "Use only one space if the text will have justified margins," and "If the manuscript has already been typed with two spaces at the end of every sentence, use the Replace function to change two spaces to one space throughout." The author adds the caveat that in certain instances a writer may want to use two spaces between sentences. The examples given are: when one space "may not provide a clear visual break between sentences," if an abbreviation is used at the end of a sentence, or when some very small proportional fonts (such as 10-point Times New Roman) are used. The manual clearly places an emphasis on the use of white space to create a pleasing document by noting spacing rules that differ from current norms such as the use of two spaces before opening a parenthesis, after closing quotation marks, and after opening single quotation marks inside of sentences.
There are a variety of guides used by screenwriters. Some of these works identify the Courier
12-point font as the industry "standard" for manuscript
s, such as the Screenwriter's Bible: A Complete Guide to Writing, Formatting, and Selling Your Script. Other works on screenwriting—such as Screenplay: Writing the Picture—indicate that proportional fonts may be used. Moira Anderson Allen suggests that publishers are more interested in readable fonts as opposed to maintaining a monospaced font standard. All of these works illustrate single sentence spacing in their manuscript examples, regardless of font type.
A number of style guides do not provide guidance on this convention, especially those that are smaller in scope and rely on other, more comprehensive style guides to provide a framework. However, some of these style guides are well-known, including the 4th edition of Strunk and White's The Elements of Style
, a widely used general style guide, which is silent in reference to typography and spacing between sentences. Other U.S. style guides that do not address sentence spacing include, Scientific Style And Format: The CSE Manual for Authors, Editors, And Publishers, the AMA Manual of Style, the Wall Street Journal Essential Guide to Business Style and Usage (2002), the New York Times Manual of Style and Usage, REA's Handbook of English Grammar, Style, and Writing (2009), and the American Sociological Society Style Guide (2007). In the United Kingdom, the Economist Style Guide (2005), Guardian Style Guide, and the Times Style Guide also provide no guidance on this topic. All of these guides themselves use single sentence spacing in their text.
Due to a widespread misconception regarding proper sentence spacing, notably in languages with Latin-based alphabets, many writers query Internet search engines to determine how many spaces to place between sentences. Although sentence spacing is a matter of typography
Typography
Typography is the art and technique of arranging type in order to make language visible. The arrangement of type involves the selection of typefaces, point size, line length, leading , adjusting the spaces between groups of letters and adjusting the space between pairs of letters...
, many style and language guides offer guidance on proper sentence spacing, providing a standard for adherents to follow.
Historical style guides before the mid-20th century typically indicated that single, but slightly wider, spaces were to be used between sentences. Standard word spaces were about one-third of an em space, but sentences were to be divided by a full em-space. With the arrival of the typewriter in the late 19th century, style guides for writers began diverging from printer's manuals, indicating that writers should double-space between sentences. This held for most of the 20th century until the computer began replacing the typewriter as the primary means of creating text. In the 1990s, style guides reverted to recommending a single-space between sentences. However, instead of a slightly larger sentence space, style guides simply indicated a standard word space. This is now the convention for publishers.
Style guide
Style guide
A style guide or style manual is a set of standards for the writing and design of documents, either for general use or for a specific publication, organization or field...
s are important to writers since "virtually all professional editors work closely with one of them in editing a manuscript for publication." Comprehensive style guides, such as the Oxford Style Manual in the United Kingdom and style guides developed by the American Psychological Association
American Psychological Association
The American Psychological Association is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States. It is the world's largest association of psychologists with around 154,000 members including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. The APA...
, and the Modern Language Association
Modern Language Association
The Modern Language Association of America is the principal professional association in the United States for scholars of language and literature...
in the United States, provide standards for a wide variety of writing, design, and English language topics—such as grammar, punctuation, and typographic conventions—and are widely used regardless of profession.
Many style guides do not provide guidance on sentence spacing. In some cases, the spacing of the volume or work itself provides an indication on the recommendation for usage of sentence spacing. A lack of guidance on sentence spacing is also notable for style guides in languages which did not adopt double sentence spacing to accommodate the mechanical limitations of the typewriter
Typewriter
A typewriter is a mechanical or electromechanical device with keys that, when pressed, cause characters to be printed on a medium, usually paper. Typically one character is printed per keypress, and the machine prints the characters by making ink impressions of type elements similar to the pieces...
, and which conform to the current convention for published work, single sentence spacing. Most language guides, for languages with prescriptive guidance provided by an academy, also do not provide advice on sentence spacing.
Language guides
Some languages have academies that set language rules. Their publications typically address orthographyOrthography
The orthography of a language specifies a standardized way of using a specific writing system to write the language. Where more than one writing system is used for a language, for example Kurdish, Uyghur, Serbian or Inuktitut, there can be more than one orthography...
and grammar as opposed to matters of typography. Style guides are less relevant for these languages
Standard language
A standard language is a language variety used by a group of people in their public discourse. Alternatively, varieties become standard by undergoing a process of standardization, during which it is organized for description in grammars and dictionaries and encoded in such reference works...
since their academies set prescriptive rules
Linguistic prescription
In linguistics, prescription denotes normative practices on such aspects of language use as spelling, grammar, pronunciation, and syntax. It includes judgments on what usages are socially proper and politically correct...
. For example, the Académie française
Académie française
L'Académie française , also called the French Academy, is the pre-eminent French learned body on matters pertaining to the French language. The Académie was officially established in 1635 by Cardinal Richelieu, the chief minister to King Louis XIII. Suppressed in 1793 during the French Revolution,...
publishes the Dictionnaire de l'Académie française
Dictionnaire de l'Académie française
The Dictionnaire de l'Académie française is the official dictionary of the French language.The Académie française is France's official authority on the usages, vocabulary, and grammar of the French language, although its recommendations carry no legal power...
for French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
speakers worldwide Although the 1992 edition does not provide guidance on sentence spacing, its text is single sentence spaced throughout—consistent with historical French spacing. The German language manual Empfehlungen des Rats für Deutsche Rechtschreibung
Rat für deutsche Rechtschreibung
The Rat für deutsche Rechtschreibung , or RdR, is the main international body regulating the German language.With its seat being in Mannheim, Germany, the RdR was formed in 2004 as a successor to the Zwischenstaatliche Kommission für deutsche Rechtschreibung in order to comprise proponents as well...
, or "Recommendations of the Council for German Orthography" (2006), does not address sentence spacing. However, the manual itself uses one space after terminal punctuation. This is likely because the double-space convention was not prescribed in historical German language guides. Additionally, the Duden
Duden
The Duden is a German dictionary, first published by Konrad Duden in 1880.Currently the Duden is in its 25th edition and published in 12 volumes, each covering different aspects like loan words, etymology, pronunciation, synonyms, etc...
, the German language dictionary most commonly used in Germany, indicates that double sentence spacing is an error. The Duden was the primary orthography and style guide dictionary in Germany until the German orthography reform of 1996 created a multinational council for German orthography
Orthography
The orthography of a language specifies a standardized way of using a specific writing system to write the language. Where more than one writing system is used for a language, for example Kurdish, Uyghur, Serbian or Inuktitut, there can be more than one orthography...
for German-speaking countries—composed of experts from Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
, Liechtenstein
Liechtenstein
The Principality of Liechtenstein is a doubly landlocked alpine country in Central Europe, bordered by Switzerland to the west and south and by Austria to the east. Its area is just over , and it has an estimated population of 35,000. Its capital is Vaduz. The biggest town is Schaan...
and Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
. The current version of the Duden reflects the most recent opinions of this council. The Spanish language
Spanish language
Spanish , also known as Castilian , is a Romance language in the Ibero-Romance group that evolved from several languages and dialects in central-northern Iberia around the 9th century and gradually spread with the expansion of the Kingdom of Castile into central and southern Iberia during the...
is similar. The most important body within the Association of Spanish Language Academies
Association of Spanish Language Academies
The Association of Spanish Language Academies is the entity which regulates the Spanish language. It was created in Mexico in 1951 and represents the union of all the separate academies in the Spanish-speaking world....
, the Real Academia Española
Real Academia Española
The Royal Spanish Academy is the official royal institution responsible for regulating the Spanish language. It is based in Madrid, Spain, but is affiliated with national language academies in twenty-one other hispanophone nations through the Association of Spanish Language Academies...
, publishes the Diccionario de la Lengua Española
Diccionario de la lengua española de la Real Academia Española
The Diccionario de la lengua española de la Real Academia Española or DRAE is the most authoritative dictionary of the Spanish language. It is produced, edited, and published by the Real Academia Española ; the first edition was published in 1780...
, which is viewed as prescriptive for the Spanish language worldwide. The 1999 edition does not provide sentence spacing guidance, but is itself single sentence-spaced.
International style guides
The European UnionEuropean Union
The European Union is an economic and political union of 27 independent member states which are located primarily in Europe. The EU traces its origins from the European Coal and Steel Community and the European Economic Community , formed by six countries in 1958...
's Interinstitutional Style Guide indicates that single sentence spacing is to be used in all European Union publications, encompassing 23 languages. For the English language, the European Commission
European Commission
The European Commission is the executive body of the European Union. The body is responsible for proposing legislation, implementing decisions, upholding the Union's treaties and the general day-to-day running of the Union....
's English Style Guide states that sentences are always single-spaced. The Style Manual: For Authors, Editors and Printers (2007), first published in 1966 by the Commonwealth Government Printing Office of Australia, stipulates that only one space is used after "sentence-closing punctuation", and that "Programs for word processing and desktop publishing offer more sophisticated, variable spacing, so this practice of double spacing is now avoided because it can create distracting gaps on a page."
National languages not covered by an authoritative language academy typically have multiple style guides—which may not all discuss sentence spacing. This is the case in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
. However, the Oxford Style Manual (2003) and the Modern Humanities Research Association
Modern Humanities Research Association
The Modern Humanities Research Association is a British-based international organization that aims to encourage and promote advanced study and research of humanities. It is most notable for producing the MHRA Style Guide....
's MHRA Style Guide (2002), state that only single spacing should be used.
In Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
, both the English and French language sections of the Canadian Style, A Guide to Writing and Editing (1997), prescribe single sentence spacing. In the United States, many style guides—such as The Chicago Manual of Style
The Chicago Manual of Style
The Chicago Manual of Style is a style guide for American English published since 1906 by the University of Chicago Press. Its 16 editions have prescribed writing and citation styles widely used in publishing...
(2003)—allow only single sentence spacing. A comprehensive style guide for general and academic use in Italy, Il Nuovo Manuale di Stile (2009), does not address sentence spacing, but the Guida di Stile Italiano (2010), the official guide for Microsoft translation, tells users to use single sentence spacing "instead of the double spacing used in the United States".
U.S. government style guides
The U.S. Government Printing Office (GPO) was authorized by an act of Congress to "determine the form and style of Government Printing". By 1984, the United States Government Printing Office Style Manual had transitioned to directing single sentence spacing. The 2000 and 2008 editions of the Government Printing Office's (GPO) Style Manual are unequivocal in their guidance regarding this convention: "A single justified word space will be used between sentences. This applies to all types of composition." The last known official United States government document to specifically prescribe double spaces after concluding punctuation was a 1959 government style guide. It indicated that sentences should use the em space evenly when typeset, defining a double-space as a synonym for an em space.General and academic style guides
The 2003 edition of the Oxford Style Manual combined the Oxford Guide to Style (first published as Hart's Rules in 1893) and the Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors ("defines the language of the entire English-speaking world, from North America to South Africa, from Australia and New Zealand to the Caribbean"). It states, "In text, use only a single word space after all sentence punctuation."The Chicago Manual of Style
The Chicago Manual of Style
The Chicago Manual of Style is a style guide for American English published since 1906 by the University of Chicago Press. Its 16 editions have prescribed writing and citation styles widely used in publishing...
is a comprehensive and widely used style manual for American English writing, and has been called the "standard of the book publishing industry".
The 16th edition, published in 2010, states, "Like most publishers, Chicago advises leaving a single character space, not two spaces, between sentences ... and this recommendation applies to both the manuscript and the published work." Chicago provides further guidance as follows:
Punctuation and space—one space or two? In typeset matter, one space, not two should be used between two sentences—whether the first ends in a period, a question mark, an exclamation point, or a closing quotation mark or parenthesis.
The Turabian Style, published as the Manual for Writers of Research Papers, Theses, and Dissertations, is widely used in academic writing. The 7th Edition, published in 2007, stipulates that the use of periods, question marks, and exclamation points as "terminal punctuation" to end a sentence should be followed by a single space.
Until the early 2000s, the Modern Language Association
Modern Language Association
The Modern Language Association of America is the principal professional association in the United States for scholars of language and literature...
(MLA) left room for its adherents to single or double sentence space. In 2008, it modified its position on sentence spacing to the following:
In an earlier era, writers using a typewriter commonly left two spaces after a period, a question mark, or an exclamation point. Publications in the United States today usually have the same spacing after concluding punctuation marks as between words on the same line. Since word processors make available the same fonts used by typesetters for printed works, many writers, influenced by the look of typeset publications, now leave only one space after a concluding punctuation mark. In addition, some publishers' guidelines for preparing a manuscript's electronic files ask professional authors to type only the spaces that are to appear in print. Because it is increasingly common for manuscripts to be prepared with a single space after all concluding punctuation marks, this spacing is recommended and shown in the examples in this manual.
APA style
The Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, also known as APA styleAPA style
American Psychological Association Style is a set of rules that authors use when submitting papers for publications in APA journals. The APA states that they were developed to assist reading comprehension in the social and behavioral sciences, for clarity of communication, and to "move the idea...
, is a widely used style guide that is favored by the social sciences
Social sciences
Social science is the field of study concerned with society. "Social science" is commonly used as an umbrella term to refer to a plurality of fields outside of the natural sciences usually exclusive of the administrative or managerial sciences...
in the United States. Although 2009 saw a number of changes and reversals for certain aspects of its style recommendations, the current guidance from the American Psychological Association
American Psychological Association
The American Psychological Association is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States. It is the world's largest association of psychologists with around 154,000 members including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. The APA...
(APA) as of July 2009 is a recommendation to use two spaces for draft manuscripts and work. This recommendation does not apply "to the published, or final version, of a work", where the spacing convention is determined by the publication designer. Since U.S. publishers of print media typically use the single space convention, this means that drafts prepared with the double-space convention would be converted to the single space convention for final publication. The APA also notes that "the usual convention for published works remains one space after each period", and that the practice of publishers removing extra spaces from a manuscript prior to publication "is a routine part of the manuscript preparation process here at the APA".
Other scientific style guides
The 2006 edition of the Style Manual for Political Science, published by the American Political Science AssociationAmerican Political Science Association
The American Political Science Association is a professional association of political science students and scholars in the United States. Founded in 1903, it publishes three academic journals...
, states that "One space, not two, should follow all punctuation that ends a sentence." The 2nd edition of the American Sociological Association Style Guide, published by the American Sociological Association
American Sociological Association
The American Sociological Association , founded in 1905 as the American Sociological Society , is a non-profit organization dedicated to advancing the discipline and profession of sociology by serving sociologists in their work and promoting their contributions to serve society.The ASA holds its...
(ASA), provides guidance to use "only one space after all punctuation–periods and colons should not be followed by two spaces."
Legal style guides
In the United States, there are a variety of legal writing style guides available. According to The Chicago Manual of StyleThe Chicago Manual of Style
The Chicago Manual of Style is a style guide for American English published since 1906 by the University of Chicago Press. Its 16 editions have prescribed writing and citation styles widely used in publishing...
, The Bluebook is the "most widely used [legal] citation guide" in the United States. The 2006 version of this guide to legal citations does not directly address spacing after the terminal punctuation of a sentence, although it does provide actual citation examples from court documents—some of which are single-spaced and some of which are double sentence spaced. A key statement in this guide, which addresses possible preferential differences between courts that require document submissions, notes that "Many state and federal courts promulgate local citation rules, which take precedence over Bluebook rules in documents submitted to those courts." Various other legal style guides provide non-committal positions on this topic, such as the 2006 version of the ALWD Citation Manual, which has been "widely adopted by law-school writing courses". This guide provides limited coverage on punctuation, referring readers to other style manuals that prescribe single sentence spacing. The Guide to Legal Writing Style (2007) also does not directly address this topic.
Some legal style guides do provide guidance on sentence spacing, such as the 2009 edition of the AP Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law, and the 2006 edition of The Redbook: A Manual on Legal Style—both of which state that a single space follows terminal punctuation. The Redbook provides further details on the use of this convention: "The custom during the reign of the typewriter was to insert two spaces between sentences" due to the use by typewriters of monospaced fonts that are not effective at creating readable text. It indicates that users could continue the use of two spaces if using a typewriter "or the Courier font", and espouses the advantages of widely available proportional fonts which are degraded by the use of two spaces after terminal punctuation. Of the legal style guides listed in this section, all use proportional fonts with a single space between sentences in their text.
Professional style guides
A number of style guides exist to provide writing standards for various professions. For example, the 2009 edition of the Associated Press Stylebook calls for a single space following the terminal punctuation of a sentence. The Associated PressAssociated Press
The Associated Press is an American news agency. The AP is a cooperative owned by its contributing newspapers, radio and television stations in the United States, which both contribute stories to the AP and use material written by its staff journalists...
represents over 300 locations worldwide. For copyeditors, the 2nd edition of the Copyeditor's Handbook: A Guide for Book Publishing and Corporate Communications, published in 2006, states that users should "delete any extra word spacing before or after punctuation marks" and that "The conventions are: One space follows a sentence-ending punctuation mark."
Multiple style guides exist within the United States health care industry. The 2007 edition of the AMA Manual of Style is a comprehensive work which includes a separate section on typography. Although the manual does not provide specific guidance regarding sentence spacing, it provides examples of single-spaced journal pages used for American Medical Association
American Medical Association
The American Medical Association , founded in 1847 and incorporated in 1897, is the largest association of medical doctors and medical students in the United States.-Scope and operations:...
(AMA) publications to show standard AMA elements of design. The 2007 edition of the Health Professional's Style Manual also does not directly address this topic—referring users to specific style manuals such as The Chicago Manual of Style
The Chicago Manual of Style
The Chicago Manual of Style is a style guide for American English published since 1906 by the University of Chicago Press. Its 16 editions have prescribed writing and citation styles widely used in publishing...
, the APA
APA style
American Psychological Association Style is a set of rules that authors use when submitting papers for publications in APA journals. The APA states that they were developed to assist reading comprehension in the social and behavioral sciences, for clarity of communication, and to "move the idea...
style manual, and the Elements of Style.
The Gregg Reference Manual
The Gregg Reference Manual
The Gregg Reference Manual: A Manual of Style, Grammar, Usage, and Formatting is a guide to English grammar and style, written by William A. Sabin and published by McGraw-Hill. The book is named after John Robert Gregg. The eleventh edition was published in 2010.The book was first published in...
is a style manual intended for business professionals. The 1985 edition simply indicated that two spaces were to be used following terminal punctuation
Terminal punctuation
Terminal punctuation are punctuation marks used to identify the end of a portion of text. Terminal punctuation marks are also referred to as end marks and stops....
. The most recent edition, published in 2005, provides detailed guidance for sentence spacing. Its general guidance indicates that, "The standard for proportional fonts has always been the same: use only one space between the period and the start of the next sentence" and "now that the standards of desktop publishing predominate, the use of only one space after the period is quite acceptable with monospace fonts." However, although the author states that one space is correct in draft manuscripts for typesetting and most other instances, certain specific cases might benefit from additional space between sentences. For example, "As a general rule, use one space at the end of a sentence, but switch to two spaces whenever you feel a stronger visual break between sentences is needed." The manual identifies specific instances when only one space is to be used between sentences such as "If you are preparing manuscript on a computer and the file will be used for typesetting, use only one space and ignore the issue of visual appearance." The manual indicates that writers should also "Use only one space if the text will have justified margins," and "If the manuscript has already been typed with two spaces at the end of every sentence, use the Replace function to change two spaces to one space throughout." The author adds the caveat that in certain instances a writer may want to use two spaces between sentences. The examples given are: when one space "may not provide a clear visual break between sentences," if an abbreviation is used at the end of a sentence, or when some very small proportional fonts (such as 10-point Times New Roman) are used. The manual clearly places an emphasis on the use of white space to create a pleasing document by noting spacing rules that differ from current norms such as the use of two spaces before opening a parenthesis, after closing quotation marks, and after opening single quotation marks inside of sentences.
There are a variety of guides used by screenwriters. Some of these works identify the Courier
Courier (typeface)
Courier is a monospaced slab serif typeface designed to resemble the output from a strike-on typewriter. The typeface was designed by Howard "Bud" Kettler in 1955...
12-point font as the industry "standard" for manuscript
Manuscript
A manuscript or handwrite is written information that has been manually created by someone or some people, such as a hand-written letter, as opposed to being printed or reproduced some other way...
s, such as the Screenwriter's Bible: A Complete Guide to Writing, Formatting, and Selling Your Script. Other works on screenwriting—such as Screenplay: Writing the Picture—indicate that proportional fonts may be used. Moira Anderson Allen suggests that publishers are more interested in readable fonts as opposed to maintaining a monospaced font standard. All of these works illustrate single sentence spacing in their manuscript examples, regardless of font type.
Other style guides
There are various works that provide design guidance for websites. The 2008 edition of the Web Style Guide does not discuss spacing after the terminal punctuation of a sentence, although it provides a chapter on typography. In this section, the authors assert that "the basic rules of typography are much the same for both web pages and conventional print documents." Although the guide does not specifically recommend against the use of monospaced fonts, only proportional fonts are presented as "common screen fonts" and those "designed for the screen". Finally, although HTML ignores additional spacing after the terminal punctuation of a sentence, the authors caution against custom fonts and typefaces because most users' browsers will default to a font defined by their operating system.A number of style guides do not provide guidance on this convention, especially those that are smaller in scope and rely on other, more comprehensive style guides to provide a framework. However, some of these style guides are well-known, including the 4th edition of Strunk and White's The Elements of Style
The Elements of Style
The Elements of Style , also known as Strunk & White, by William Strunk, Jr. and E. B. White, is a prescriptive American English writing style guide comprising eight "elementary rules of usage", ten "elementary principles of composition", "a few matters of form", a list of forty-nine "words and...
, a widely used general style guide, which is silent in reference to typography and spacing between sentences. Other U.S. style guides that do not address sentence spacing include, Scientific Style And Format: The CSE Manual for Authors, Editors, And Publishers, the AMA Manual of Style, the Wall Street Journal Essential Guide to Business Style and Usage (2002), the New York Times Manual of Style and Usage, REA's Handbook of English Grammar, Style, and Writing (2009), and the American Sociological Society Style Guide (2007). In the United Kingdom, the Economist Style Guide (2005), Guardian Style Guide, and the Times Style Guide also provide no guidance on this topic. All of these guides themselves use single sentence spacing in their text.
See also
- History of sentence spacingHistory of sentence spacingThe history of sentence spacing is the evolution of sentence spacing conventions from the introduction of movable type in Europe by Johannes Gutenberg to the present day....
- List of style guides
- Sentence spacing
- Sentence spacing in the digital ageSentence spacing in the digital ageSentence spacing in digital media is the horizontal space between sentences in computer and web-based media. Digital media allow sentence spacing variations not possible with the typewriter. Most digital fonts permit the use of a variable space or a no-break space...
- Orphans and widows
- Style guides