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In ordinary standard typing, I learned that there are 2 spaces after the period.


Another Answer:

When people still learned how to type on manualtypewriters, the convention used to be two spaces after a period at the end of a sentence, and one space after a period after an abbreviation within a sentence.

In formal typesetting, however, the standard has alwaysbeen to use one space after a period. (Sometimes typesetters would use slightly wider spaces, but never two actual spaces.)

In modern keyboarding on computers with modern word processing software that approximates the look and feel of formal typesetting, it is also now standard to use only one space after a period--and this is how kids are taught to type nowadays as well. This standard has also been adopted by most style guides (e.g. Chicago Manual of Style, MLA, etc.).

A good rule of thumb, then, is that you should use one space after a period now--unless you are using a font like Courier that has the look of old manual typewriter print, in which case you have the option of using two spaces.

More important than the number of spaces, however, is consistency: if you choose to use two spaces after periods, that's perfectly fine so long as do that consistently throughout a given document.

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15y ago

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