Welcome to the Grammar Minute, where we’re saving the English language sixty seconds at a time! I’m Lauren Smyth, and last week I got stuck in a traffic jam. This made me think of the spaces between cars, which for some reason made me think of the spaces between sentences. Don’t come for me; I’m a grammar nerd.
ANYWAY, since the invention of keyboards, grammarians have been arguing over whether it’s appropriate to type two spaces after a period or only one. With typewriters, it was difficult to tell where a new sentence began if you didn’t hit the spacebar twice. Computers have eliminated that problem by creating nice, neat, well-spaced fonts that are easy to read. Thus, the typing rule has changed. You should always put one space after the period when typing on a computer. Never two. Nowadays style guides agree: Double-spacing no longer solves an important problem and just wastes space.
And yes, before you try to pad out your page count for a professor—Microsoft Word will rat you out and mark the double-spacing as wrong. The difference between double- and single-spacing is also pretty obvious just by looking.
That’s your Grammar Minute! Visit thegrammarminute.com for more tips and tricks.