I recently involved myself in a discussion I have been engaging people in since the mid 1970’s. The Topic: Is it one space or two after a period when word-processing? The topic resurfaced after @smartinez, a highly respected educator and Tweeter, sent out a link to a post explaining the rule. http://www.slate.com/id/2281146/ According to Farhad Manjoo, Old-fashioned typewriters used monospaced type, which produced a lot of white space between characters and words, so using two spaces after a period made the text easier to read, but as of the 1970s, monospaced type went out of style. Electric typewriters and computers now both use proportional fonts, eliminating the need for the extra space. This fact prompted this statement, “Typing two spaces after a period is totally, completely, utterly, and inarguably wrong.”
Now for what happened after I re-tweeted that link to the post that validated the very position I have taken since the 1970’s. A number of people stepped up questioning, if that was important, or if anybody really cared. Some said that they had always done two spaces and will continue to do so. That was the attitude that set me off. I would like to say that it matters not to me whether one uses one or two spaces. Of course my experience and prejudices affect my impressions of things. I guess ultimately it does matter to me, for I will form an opinion of a writer somewhat based on my perception of their punctuation mistakes, however, I do see a larger topic here.
It should be evident to any thinking person that our society, or more accurately, our culture is greatly affected by technology. Tech is developing and moving forward each and every day. At almost any age any person can think back this or her past and recollect some piece of technology that has ceased to exist, or was replaced by another form or piece of technology. That is the way of our world. Technology has changed the way we all deal with information. Consider how we access, create, communicate, and collaborate and ultimately think about information in our culture. There is no going back in the way tech affects everything. The bigger picture however, is not solely the tech itself, but how we interact with that technology.
The reason why we have one space instead of two after a period is because the technology has developed to a point where the two spaces are unnecessary. Some people may want to hang on to the old way as a revolt against the machine, but that makes no sense. In their revolt, do they choose to take a Conestoga wagon to travel across a continent, or do they take a 747? How much rebellion is convenient or comfortable?
Now, I hope to get to my point. At the risk of sounding arrogant myself, I hate the arrogance of some educators, who actually believe that they can teach children today with absolutely no regard for technology, or its influence on our culture. It is true that a good teacher can teach with a dirt floor and a stick with the stick being optional. A good teacher with technology however, can offer more relevance to students in a world that will require them to constantly interact with technology. A good teacher with technology can be better. As our tools change, our methods for teaching need to change accordingly. We cannot ignore the fact that our society will require the use of technology and it is no longer the choice of the educator to teach with it or not. We are moving beyond accepting handwritten or even typewritten reports in our society. Therefore, we need to employ those rules which are required by the tool which we require people to use.
If we as educators are teaching children to function within a technological society that is constantly changing, we must educate our children to use those tools. We must also strive to teach and model the ability to adapt, since those same tools will continue to develop and change. A big problem we as educators, have is that we do not even understand what specific skills are going to be required of our students, because in many cases, the jobs they will have, do not yet exist. Without knowing of the jobs, how do we address the skills needed to fill those jobs? We as educators need to at least be relevant to our students if we stand a chance of giving them what they will need. We have a responsibility to assess what we do and how we do it. We no longer have the luxury of choosing what or how we remain comfortable teaching. We have a greater responsibility to our students that goes beyond our personal comfort level. We need to adapt our teaching skills and methods to address our students’ needs.
We have a responsibility to develop professionally. What we learned before we got our degrees and licenses has changed and continues to do so. We need to stay relevant in order to move our students forward. The amount of information is daunting. Not addressing it and not trying to get a handle on it does not keep technology from moving forward. The longer it takes educators to accept it, the further down the road it will move and the mountain of what we need to know will continue to grow.
In the world of today’s educator, he or she may choose to put two spaces after a period. In the world that will exist for their students however, there will be a different set of rules, determined by technology, requiring one space after a period. We must teach them for their needs and not ours. Yes, every educator has the right to choose to live in a cave. They do not have the right to drag their students in there with them.
Okay educators, your choice, one space or two after a period?
My Island View 
OK what matters is that no one told me…so how is this info supposed to get to teachers or people in the world at large…and I’ll go you one better…where it matters is in the world of work…tell educators to stop indenting paragraphs…in the world of work everything is left justified and they expect you to know that..what is further interesting is that word processing software like Word recognizes it either way with the period…
Set a standard and stick to it…and if we should only use one space then have the software let us know as well…OK my rant is over…
Great read & well written. I appreciate the single spacing. 😉 and in all seriousness I completely agree.
Educators have to adapt. People have to adapt. Surely you can remain steadfast in some beliefs or methods but all the while you’re changing in others. So do we really need to have that steadfast or non-flexible approach or perspective at all?
I learned this basic fact during my Music studies. A percussionist has the entire music system changing from composition to composition. Why? Because each piece consists of different instruments for the percussionist which deals with a very large family of instruments. But it gets more challenging in that the music system itself changes so the “notes” on a page are also different from location on the page, the mallet used, technique etc.
Flexibility & adaptation are key components to being successful in a rapidly & constantly changing world. Live it and teach it.
One space after a period, it is. 😉
Hi Tom,
It’s interesting question, not only from the closeup of educators understand the perspective of learners who are digital natives, or from the viewpoint of typographical design and content *writing* taking in mind various “pages” in the digital domain, eg. A MS word document or PDF; versus a google doc, versus a cell phone generated txt msg or 140char tweet; or a Facebook comment which disallows editing, only delete and repost; or just basic plain vanilla HTML.
Let me highlight one example where technology design has already largely removed that question for you. For an educator unfamiliar with technology, the 2 dots versus 1 might seem important but the world has largely moved on.
If you teach someone one of the most basic linuga franca of today’s world, how to write in simple raw HTML, the two spaces question is superfluous. You can’t unless you try REALLY hard. Every web browser under the sun has standardized to take any length of continuous space characters and render them on screen as a single space character. So you might want to type two spaces after a period. Or three. Or more. Every browser will only show you one. Unless you alter the HTML code to add a series of non-breaking space characters using an HTML entity code. Which requires the educator and the learner to understand why it’s there and why you’d want that. It’s a basic example of why educators should keep up with a basic strong understanding of technology if they want to be relevant in helping learning. As much as earlier generations of teachers struggled with the transition from quills to ballpoint pens, or sharpening pencils versus using a slate per pupil.
Hope this tidbit of information helps inform a productive discussion.
Best,
– Ian
If an educator wasn’t familiar with the technology they were using,
I am not a professional educator, but I am a writer for an educational software company.
Tom, I really appreciate your work and have enjoyed getting to know you a bit through your blog, tweets, and your recent interview.
This one-or-two space issue is an important one for me–not because of readability or aesthetics or even industry standards, but because learning to let go of erroneous or outdated traditions is a necessary part of being a productive member of society. Kids need to learn about the joy that comes from being open to learn from others’ experiences.
Not to trivialize the discussion, but I love these lyrics from Beauty and the Beast:
Bittersweet and strange
Finding you can change
Learning you were wrong
We need to teach kids (and remind ourselves as educators, writers, and parents) that there’s no shame in being wrong as long as we’re simultaneously doing our best to improve where we can–regardless of profession.
I agree, Tom. It burns me up a little to hear people say, “I’ve always done it this way. I’ll continue to do so in the future.” I’m a recent single-space convert and it hasn’t been easy, but I feel like it’s made me a better writer. I’m grateful for good people who were willing to help me see a better way.
Thanks for this post. Very timely and thought-provoking.
I have a preferrence for one, but I think the use of two is acceptable. However, whichever the writer uses, it must be consistent throughout.
(And for a wicked aside, is it incorrect to write color or colour? 😉 )
For us old folks who learned to type on manual typewriters, the 2 space thing is ingrained. I’ve been blogging in earnest since ’06 and still put 2 spaces after a period.
I hadn’t thought about HTML, of which I know a bit–I didn’t make the connection. My question is how do we disseminate the single space rule?
I suppose once old guys like me die it will be much easier.
(Typed using 1 space after a period. I had to go back and change all my 2 spaces–even that last one right there.)
See, you are adapting. By the way I am willing to bet that I am older than you. I too am from the Underwood and Corona Era.
Oh yeah. You win that bet! Though, being born in the 60’s allows me to say I have lived in 7 decades. Pretty impressive for a guy in his 40s, eh?
Maybe I can win with this: I have an old portable electric typewriter in my closet!
How many spaces should be after that colon up there (I put 4 just for fun)?
Tom, your points are well taken, and some of what I was thinking when I posted that article link. Punctuation and gramar rules are fluid, and they change. Sometimes it’s technology, sometimes just things go out of fashion.
Different professions use style manuals to keep track of the rules. Sometimes these style manuals disagree. There is a nice article on wikipedia about the various ones used for journalism, everyday use, academic use, etc. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Style_guide
But many teachers use the style they learned in grad school, and assume that is “the way” – when in fact it is only for research papers and theses, not the kind of writing most students are being asked to do.
How should this information get to teachers? I think it should be taught when teachers are learning about teaching writing, and then it’s the responsibility of the educator to keep up with style changes. Language changes, and teaching language should too.
Two thoughts on this topic, Tom.
1. This sentence struck a nerve with me: “If we as educators are teaching children to function within a technological society that is constantly changing, we must educate our children to use those tools.” Problem is, many teachers are NOT teaching children to function within a technological society. These teachers have refused to acknowledge the world we live in and the world in which our young ones will thrive. One space or two doesn’t matter to them … technology is irrelevant in their daily classroom routines.
2. Every so often I have this discussion with a faculty member. I think Sylvia’s reply above hit it on the head. Much of this hullabaloo around punctuation, style, etc., will be determined by the style guide of one’s profession. As a writer of technical training type manuals, I’ve relied on the combined efforts of multiple formal style guides AND the guidelines put forth by my employers. Of course, the folks in the academic and working world can’t all just agree on one style guide. There must be 50 of them, if not more. Medicine, law, screenwriters, etc. all have different style guides.
Now, we are all also writing for the web and mobile based worlds. This requires adjustments in style, font use, color consideration, and more. Learn. Adapt. Change. Relearn.
Two relevant links on this:
http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/spaces-period-end-of-sentence.aspx
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentence_spacing
Apparently, APA changed over to one space and has now gone back to recommending two spaces only for manuscript type docs. Even they can’t figure this out.
In most word processing programs, such as Word 2007, you can force a change so you will visually see when you’ve used 2 spaces accidentally. For Word 2007:
Click the “office button” (top-left corner)
At the bottom, click on “Word Options”
Click the “Proofing” tab on the left
Toward the bottom, click on the “Settings…” button next to “Writing Style:”
Under the “Require” heading, change “Spaces required between sentences” to “1” . OK out of the dialog boxes.
One space, all the way. I embraced it long ago. Language changes, grows, adapts and we have to adapt with it. Why do kids still argue with me saying ain’t ain’t a word? Are language arts teachers still telling kids that ain’t ain’t a word? Look it up.
Oh and yes, I also agree no more indentation. They seem so silly when I see it now. 🙂
As educators we need to change, grow and adapt to the changing world around us.
One.
One Student at a time. One Outcome at a time. One Space at a time.
One.
I agree with the premise of this post. Yet, APA style now calls for 2 spaces after a period. I was forced to add these to my dissertation because APA 6th edition reintroduced the 2 space rule after having removed it from the 5th edition.
As a student I have been enslaved to style formats which, in my view, has often limited my thinking and writing.
Now, as a professional, I find the same to be true. Publication requirements “Style Guides” per se, are daunting to follow. Re-formatting an otherwise insightful writing is often a creative buzz killer, in my view.
One space or two spaces, I didn’t think anyone else ever thought about this. Now I know. It seems like such a small change to make. It’s hard to believe that once you have the knowledge, you wouldn’t adjust accordingly. With that in mind, it’s no wonder that changing the way we teach can be so difficult. We need to open our eyes and keep pace with our changing world or our students will be left behind. (Or maybe they will leave us behind.)
Bring back the dirt floor and the optional stick.
Tongue more or less in cheek.
Of course we all need to adapt. But, at the same time, seems like educating children to use certain tools is beside the point. What is the purpose of education? Is it to teach technology so that someone can be employable? Or is it to teach critical thinking skills that are needed beyond whatever technology is currently being used. Why doesn’t my MIT educated husband jump up and buy technology as soon as it’s available? a) because wait six months and it’ll be cheaper and b) wait six months and it may become outdated.
Is teaching to the technology the new teaching to the test? Either way you are looking at a failure in education. When do we move past education as a means to obtain employment to deeper conversation about what students really need to learn?
I am not denying that it’s important for teachers, parents and students to all keep up to date. My concern is does teaching technology supersede all else. And, if so, then it seems as if we are limiting students in their possibilities not helping them expand them.
Oh, and I still prefer two spaces. Emphasizing a pause in language when it is read out loud and not anything to do with technological shifts.
Tom,
I really enjoyed reading this blog post! There are so many quotes that I would like to retweet! I am going to share it with others in my district. Thanks for taking the time to write this.
What an outstanding post! I wish I had had this to share with my undergraduate preservice teachers last semester! I taught a course entitled, Meeting the Diverse Needs of Students through Technology and Curriculum Integration. I cannot tell you the “push back” I encountered from some of the students, especially the more “mature” ones. Sad to say, many of them did not want to adapt, they saw nothing wrong with the way they had learned (hey, was it all that successful?…) and therefore believed that I was asking way too much of them to integrate instruction and technology in a pedagogically sound manner. Thanks for validating what I had been thinking all along!