Unless you're using a real typewriter, there's no need to place two spaces following a period. Alternatively, a question mark. Or an exclamation mark. This rule applies to all types of end punctuation.
Put one space after a period, comma, colon, semicolon, question mark, or exclamation point as a general rule. However, if a closing quote mark immediately follows any of these marks, don't put a space between them. In either situation, no space should be used between the period and the closing quote mark.
When writing in APA Style, use one space after a period (or other punctuation mark at the conclusion of a sentence). If your instructor or a non-APA publication gives particular instructions (for example, to use two spaces), follow them. Otherwise, your work will look like it was written by someone else.
If your teacher likes two spaces after a period or other closing punctuation mark, leave one space. Otherwise, use the full point size for text.
In Modern Language Association (MLA) style, the question of whether to put a second space after a full stop is related to the decision on whether to indent an essay. If you have an essay that is not indented, then you should not put a second space after the full stop. If you do, there will be no way to tell where one sentence ends and another begins.
The rule in MLA is one space only after a full stop. This means that if your professor uses a period at the end of each sentence, you should not use a second line space after every sentence.
However, if your instructor uses two spaces after a full stop, this would indicate that he or she wants you to make the essay more formal by adding extra whitespace between sentences. This would be acceptable in academic writing; therefore, two spaces are allowed in MLA.
It is important to note that not all publishers follow MLA guidelines. Some allow for three lines after a full stop while others require only two.
Because the typewritten monospace typeface has so much more spacing, writers who used typewriters needed the extra space after punctuation to denote a complete stop, such as a period, question mark, or exclamation point. Using two spaces will cause your typeset to be distorted.
As a result, the two-space rule was adopted—on a typewriter, an extra space after a sentence makes writing simpler to read. Typographers believe that because we've all shifted to current fonts, adding two spaces after a period no longer improves reading. It weakens it. Therefore, one space is now used instead.
Because the spacing between words on a typewriter was irregular, the extra space was required to define the beginning of a new phrase. If you didn't learn to type on a typewriter, you're probably using two spaces after the period because you're emulating the writing of someone who did. This is called "period punctuation."
In old books, there were no periods or commas used as separators between sentences. Instead, there were several ways of indicating the end of a sentence. One method was to leave a blank line under the last word of the sentence. Another was to indent the next line with the first letter of each paragraph started with "S" then "T" then "U". These were known as "raised letters." A third method was to place two spaces after the period. This was done to make sure that the reader turned to the next page properly.
The first to use periods in their writings were Christian priests who wanted to distinguish their sermons from other texts such as laws and poems which had no separation between sentences. By using periods, the listeners would know that the sermon was over.
It wasn't until much later that printers began setting double spaces after the period. They did this so they could print more pages per volume by separating the text into paragraphs.
Microsoft Word, according to reports, will now indicate two spaces following the period as a grammatical problem as a default. But how about two spaces after a period? Is that also considered a grammar mistake?
The answer is yes, there are too many sentences in the world with two periods followed by two spaces. This may be due to copy-and-paste work or even a habit formed over time. While this is acceptable in emails and other text messages, it's not appropriate for writing in professional documents.
A single period at the end of a sentence should be replaced with a full stop. This makes sure that your message is clear and concise without any ambiguity. Also, using proper punctuation is recommended when emailing someone.
This example sentence has two periods followed by two spaces: "I like...!" If you were to send this email to someone, they might think you were crazy. It is better to write "I like strawberries...!"
There are also times when one needs to use three periods instead of two. For example, if you want to include a citation in your document, you will need three periods instead of two. These cases are very rare but they do exist.
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