Two space, or not two space.

Discussion in 'Word Mechanics' started by The Degenerate, Jan 20, 2011.

  1. Elgaisma

    Elgaisma Contributor Contributor

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    Plus as Mammamaia pointed out it makes editing your work a lot easier, you tell the punctuation with a much quicker glance.

    I am not sure my punctuations guides specify either way and as one is by Penguin I'll stick to my two for the time being.
     
  2. SeverinR

    SeverinR New Member

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    I trust my word processor to correct this. Word 2007 uses one space.
    I didn't even know there was this debate.

    One sight told me to use the special backwards P symbol to show the spaces, and remove any extra spaces. (This symbol shows a dot in each space) I guess its called the paragraph show/hide key?
     
  3. digitig

    digitig Contributor Contributor

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    Word 2007 will use whatever you type in :rolleyes:

    But the grammar checker gives you a choice. Go to Word Options, select "Proofing" then select "Settings..." next to "Writing style" you will see a dropdown for "Spaces between sentences", with the options "Don't check", "1" and "2". You probably don't want "don't check" -- the only position in this debate that nobody seems to be arguing for is inconsistency!
    Well, it shows more than just paragraph marks, so I'd call it the show/hide whitespace button.
     
  4. SeverinR

    SeverinR New Member

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    The sight just showed the key, so I guessed at what it was called.
    Thanks for the assist in finding that change.
     
  5. Leonardo Pisano

    Leonardo Pisano Active Member

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    If you REPLACE the single space INCLUDING the period, I don't see why the other way around is hard work. So REPLACE [period+space] by [period+two spaces] is all you need to do. There is one caveat: If you have names like L. Pisano, you don't want two spaces between the [L.] and Pisano, and this may require manual correction.
     
  6. Porcupine

    Porcupine Member

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    Why actually bother with the spacing anyway? Won't it get corrected automatically by the editors if you are publishing with a big house?

    Alternatively, if you're self-publishing, and trying to produce a print-ready file, Word is the very last thing I'd use. I would suggest using typesetting software that will take care of correct format for you, and leave you free to worry about content.
     
  7. digitig

    digitig Contributor Contributor

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    And any other abbreviations. And ellipses. And remember that you will have to change to two spaces after question marks and exclamation marks as well...
     
  8. Terri

    Terri New Member

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    *Two thumbs WAY up*
     
  9. w176

    w176 Contributor Contributor

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    Whatever you decide you can always "search and replace" if you got to change it.
     
  10. mammamaia

    mammamaia nit-picker-in-chief Contributor

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    whichever you choose, just be consistent!
     

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