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The Period One of the most frequent questions my students have about writing on computers is "How many spaces do I put after a period?" The answer is easy: just one. Why? In the days of typewriters it was customary to put two spaces after a period. Now that we write on computers and publish things electronically the standard has changed to using just one space. It takes a while to get over that two-space habit, but not as long as you might think.Other Punctuation Like the period other puncuation marks (commas, semi-colons, colon, exclamation points, and question marks) are followed by one space Parenthesis, Quote Marks, and Hyphens Some punctuation marks require different spacing. Do not put a space between parenthesis and the text inside. The same is true for quotation marks. Why? In MS Word quote marks curve in towards the text. If you put a space between the quote mark and the text, the quote mark will curve in the wrong direction. Hyphens are similar. There is no space on either side of a hyphen. If you are not sure how to punctuation refer to A Pocket Style Guide. |
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This page revised Aug. 9, 2004. Maintained by Cathy Akers-Jordan.
Your comments and suggestions are always welcome.