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Sentence spacing concerns how spaces are inserted between sentences in typeset Written language and is a matter of typographical convention.University of Chicago Press 2003, Chicago Manual of Style. p. 243; Einsohn 2006. p. 113; Shushan and Wright 1989. p. 34. Since the introduction of movable type printing in Europe, various sentence spacing conventions have been used in languages with a Latin script.Languages with Sanscrit, Cyrillic, cuneiform, hieroglyphics, Chinese, and Japanese characters, among others, are not covered in the scope of this article. Handwriting is also not covered. These include a normal word space (as between the words in a sentence), a single enlarged space, and two full spaces.
Until the 20th century, publishing houses and printers in many countries used additional space between sentences. There were exceptions to this traditional spacing methodsome printers used spacing between sentences that was no wider than word spacing. This was French spacing, synonymous with single-space sentence spacing until the late 20th century.In the 1990s some print and Web sources began referring to double sentence spacing as "French spacing", leading to some ambiguity with the term. See for example, Eckersley et al. 1994. p. 46, and Haley 2006. With the introduction of the typewriter in the late 19th century, typists used two spaces between sentences to mimic the style used by traditional typesetters.Bringhurst 2004. p. 28. While wide sentence spacing was phased out in the printing industry in the mid-20th century, the practice continued on typewritersFelici 2003. p. 80. and later on computers.Jury 2009. p. 58. Perhaps because of this, many modern sources now incorrectlyFelici 2009. claim that wide spacing was created for the typewriter.Jury 2009. p. 57; Williams 2003. p. 13; Fogarty 2008. p. 85.
The desired or correct sentence spacing is often debated, but most sources now state that an additional space is not necessary or desirable.Felici 2003. p. 80; Fogarty 2008. p. 85; Jury 2009. p. 56; Strizver 2010; Walsh 2004. p. 3; Williams 2003. pp. 13–14. From around 1950, single sentence spacing became standard in books, magazines, and newspapers,Williams 2003. pp. 13–14. This refers to professionally published works, as it is possible for individual authors to publish works through desktop publishing systems. Williams states, "I guarantee this: never in your life have you read professionally set text printed since 1942 that used two spaces after each Full stop." See also, Felici 2003, p. 81; Strizver 2010; Weiderkehr 2009; Williams 1995. p. 4. and the majority of style guides that use a Latin-derived alphabet as a language base now prescribe or recommend the use of a single space after the concluding punctuation of a sentence.; However, some sources still state that additional spacing is correct or acceptable. Some people preferred double sentence spacing because that was how they were taught to type.Strizver 2010. The few direct studies conducted since 2002 have produced inconclusive results as to which convention is more readability.Lloyd and Hallahan 2009. "During times when many disciplines that recommend the APA's Publication Manual 6th are advocating evidence-based decisions, it's noteworthy, we think, that these discussions of the rationale for using two spaces at the end of sentences (and after colons) do not appear to be based on scientific examination of the hypothesis that two spaces makes manuscripts more readable."
Magazines, newspapers, and books began to adopt the single-space convention in the United States in the 1940s and in the United Kingdom in the 1950s.Felici 2009; University of Chicago Press 2009; Williams 2003. p. 14. Typists did not move to single spacing simultaneously.
Technological advances began affecting sentence spacing methods. In 1941 IBM introduced the Executive, a typewriter capable of proportional spacing,Wershler-Henry 2005. pp. 254–255. which had been used in professional typesetting for hundreds of years. This innovation broke the hold that the monospaced font had on the typewriter, reducing the severity of its mechanical limitations. However, this innovation did not spread throughout the typewriter industry; the majority of mechanical typewriters, including all the widely distributed models, remained monospaced, while a small minority of special models carried the innovations. By the 1960s electronic phototypesetting systems ignored runs of white space in text. This was also true for the World Wide Web, as HTML normally ignores additional spacing,Lupton 2004. p. 165. HTML normally ignores all additional horizontal spacing between text. How many spaces at the end of a sentence? One or two? although in 2011 the CSS 2.1 standard officially added an option that can preserve additional spaces. In the 1980s desktop publishing software provided the average writer with more advanced formatting tools.Jury 2009. p. 57.
With the advent of the computer age, typographers began Deprecation double spacing, even in monospaced text. In 1989 Desktop Publishing by Design stated that "typesetting requires only one space after periods, question marks, exclamation points, and colons" and identified single sentence spacing as a typographic convention.Shushan and Wright 1989. p. 34. Stop Stealing Sheep & Find Out How Type Works (1993) and Designing with Type: The Essential Guide to Typography (2006) both indicate that uniform spacing should be used between words, including between sentences.Craig 2006. p. 90; Spiekermann and Ginger 1993, p. 123.
More recent works on typography weigh in strongly. Ilene Strizver, founder of the Type Studio, says: "Forget about tolerating differences of opinion: typographically speaking, typing two spaces before the start of a new sentence is absolutely, unequivocally wrong." The Complete Manual on Typography (2003) states that "The typewriter tradition of separating sentences with two-word spaces after a period has no place in typesetting" and that the single space is "standard typographic practice".Felici 2003. pp. 80–81. The Elements of Typographic Style (2004) advocates a single space between sentences, noting that "your typing as well as your typesetting will benefit from unlearning this quaint double Victorian habit."
David Jury's book About Face: Reviving the Rules of Typography (2004, published in Switzerland) clarifies the contemporary typographic position on sentence spacing:Jury 2004. p. 92.
Modern style guides provide standards and guidance for the written language. These works are important to writers, since "virtually all professional editors work closely with one of them in editing a manuscript for publication".Lutz and Stevenson 2005. p. viii. Late editions of comprehensive style guides, such as the Oxford Style Manual (2003)Ritter 2003. The 2003 edition of the Oxford Style Manual combined the Oxford Guide to Style (first published as Horace Hart's Rules for Compositors and Readers at the University Press, Oxford in 1893) and the Oxford Dictionary for Writers and Editors (first published as the Authors' and Printers' Dictionary in 1905) Preface. in the United Kingdom and the Chicago Manual of Style (2010)University of Chicago Press Chicago Manual of Style 2010. in the United States, provide standards for a wide variety of writing and design topics, including sentence spacing.Fogarty 2008. p. 85. The majority of style guides now prescribe the use of a single space after terminal punctuation in final written works and publications. A few style guides allow double sentence spacing for draft work, and the Gregg Reference Manual makes room for double and single sentence spacing based on author preferences.Sabin 2005. pp. 5–6. Web design guides do not usually provide guidance on this topic, as "HTML refuses to recognize double spaces altogether".Lupton 2004. p. 165. These works themselves follow the current publication standard of single sentence spacing.Strunk and White 1999. (1st edition published in 1918.); Council of Science Editors 2006. (1st edition published in 1960.); American Medical Association 2007. (1st edition published in 1962.)
The European Union's Interinstitutional Style Guide (2008) indicates that single sentence spacing is to be used in all European Union publications (all 23 languages).Publications Office of the European Union 2008. (1st edition published in 1997.) This manual is "obligatory" for all those in the EU who are involved in preparing EU documents and works ( "Welcome to the style guide!"). It is intended to encompass 23 languages within the European Union ( "Foreword"). For the English language, the European Commission's English Style Guide (2010) states that sentences are always single-spaced.European Commission Directorate-General for Translation. p. 22. (1st edition published in 1982.) "Note in particular that... stops (. ? ! : ;) are always followed by only a single (not a double) space." The Style Manual: For Authors, Editors and Printers (2007), first published in 1966 by the Commonwealth Government Printing Office of Australia, stipulates that only one space is used after "sentence-closing punctuation" and that "Programs for word processing and desktop publishing offer more sophisticated, variable spacing, so this practice of double spacing is now avoided because it can create distracting gaps on a page."John Wiley & Sons Australia 2007. p. 153. The Commonwealth is an organization of 54 English-speaking states worldwide.
National languages not covered by an authoritative language academy typically have multiple style guides, only some of which may discuss sentence spacing. This is the case in the United Kingdom. The Oxford Style Manual (2003) and the Modern Humanities Research Association's MHRA Style Guide (2002) state that only single spacing should be used.Ritter 2003 Oxford Style Manual, 2003. p. 51. (First published as the MHRA Style Book in 1971.) "In text, use only a single word space after all sentence punctuation."; Modern Humanities Research Association 2002. p. 6. In Canada both the English- and French-language sections of the Canadian Style, A Guide to Writing and Editing (1997), prescribe single sentence spacing.Dundurn Press 1997. p. 113. (1st edition published in 1987.); Public Works and Government Services of Canada 2010. p. 293. "17.07 French Typographical RulesPunctuation: Adopt the following rules for spacing with punctuation marks. table Mark: Period, before: none, after: 1 space." In the United States, many style guides, such as the Chicago Manual of Style (2003), allow only single sentence spacing.University of Chicago Press 2003 Chicago Manual of Style. p. 61. "2.12 A single character space, not two spaces, should be left after periods at the ends of sentences (both in manuscript and in final, published form)." p. 243. "6.11 In typeset matter, one space, not two (in other words, a regular word space), follows any mark of punctuation that ends a sentence, whether a period, a colon, a question mark, an exclamation point, or closing quotation marks." p. 243. "6.13 A period marks the end of a declarative or an imperative sentence. It is followed by a single space." The most important style guide in Italy, Il Nuovo Manuale di Stile (2009), does not address sentence spacing,Lesina 2009. (1st edition published in 1986.) "Prefazione: Il manuale intende fornire una serie di indicazioni utili per la stesura di testi di carattere non inventive, quali per esempio manuali, saggi, monografie, relazioni professionali, tesi di laurea, articoli per riviste, ecc." (Translation: "Style manual for academic papers, monographs, professional correspondence, theses, articles, etc.".) Carrada 2010. "L'unico vero manuale di stile italiano, di cui nessun redattore può fare a meno". (Translation: "The only real Italian style guide, a must-have for any writer".) The 2009 edition is itself uses single sentence spacing. but the Guida di Stile Italiano (2010), the official guide for Microsoft translation, tells users to use single sentence spacing "instead of the double spacing used in the United States".Microsoft 2010. p. 4.1.8. "Assicurarsi ad esempio che tra la fine e l'inizio di due periodi separati da un punto venga usato un unico spazio prima della frase successiva, invece dei due spazi del testo americano... A differenza di altre lingue, non va inserito nessuno spazio prima dei segni di punteggiatura." (Translation: "Make sure that between two sentences separated by a period a single space is used before the second sentence, instead of the double spacing used in the United States... Contrary to other languages, no space is to be added before punctuation marks.")
The text-editing environment in Emacs by default uses a double space following a period to identify the end of sentences unambiguously; the double-space convention prevents confusion with periods within sentences that signify abbreviations. How Emacs recognizes the end of a sentence is controlled by the settings sentence-end-double-space and sentence-end.
The Unix typesetter program Troff uses two spaces to mark the end of a sentence. This allows the typesetter to distinguish sentence endings from abbreviations and to typeset them differently. Early versions of Troff, which typeset only in fixed-width fonts, would automatically add a second space between sentences, which were detected based on the combination of terminal punctuation and a line feed.
In the April 2020 update Microsoft Word started highlighting two spaces after a period as an error and offers a correction of one space.
Multiple spaces are eliminated by default in most World Wide Web content, whether or not they are associated with sentences. There are options for preserving spacing, such as the CSS white-space property, and the <pre> tag.W3C 1999
Many people are opposed to single sentence spacing for various reasons. Some state that the habit of double spacing is too deeply ingrained to change.Williams 2003, p. 13. Others claim that additional space between sentences improves the aesthetics or readability of text.Williams 95, p. 1; Sabin 2005. pp. 5–6. Proponents of double sentence spacing also say that some publishers may still require double-spaced manuscript submissions from authors. A key example noted is the screenwriting industry's monospaced standard for screenplay manuscripts, Courier, 12-point font,Trotter 1998, p. 112. Trottier refers to Courier as the industry "standard". although some works on screenwriting indicate that Courier is merely preferred, and proportional fonts may still be used.Russin and Downs 2003, p. 17. The authors state that "Courier 12-point is preferred, although New York, Bookman, and Times will do". Moira Anderson Allen suggests that publishers are more interested in readable fonts as opposed to maintaining a fixed-width font standard. Some reliable sources state simply that writers should follow their particular style guide, but proponents of double spacing caution that publishers' guidance takes precedence, including those that ask for double-sentence-spaced manuscripts.Loberger 2009, p. 158; Stevenson 2005, p. 123; Sambuchino 2009, p. 10.
One of the most popular arguments against wider sentence spacing is that it was created for monospaced fonts of the typewriter and is no longer needed with modern proportional fonts.
Most style guides indicate that single sentence spacing is proper for final or published work today, and most publishers require manuscripts to be submitted as they will appear in publication: single sentence spacing.University of Chicago Press 2010, p. 60; Lutz 2005, p. 200; Modern Language Association 2009, pp. 77–78. Writing sources typically recommend that prospective authors remove extra spaces before submitting manuscripts,Modern Humanities Research Association 2002, p. 6; Sabin 2005, p. 5; Felici 2003, p. 81; Fogarty also stated in Grammar Girl's Quick and Dirty Tips for Better Writing that numerous page designers have contacted her, saying the presence of two spaces between sentences requires them to edit the pages to remove the extra spaces Fogarty 2008, p. 85. although other sources state that publishers will use software to remove the spaces before final publication.University of Chicago Press 2010, p. 83; The 16th edition of the Chicago Manual of Style instructs editors to remove extra spaces between sentences when preparing a manuscript for publication; also Weiderkehr 2009.
However, typographic opinions are typically anecdotal with no basis in evidence.Wheildon 1995. p. 13. "Opinions are not always safe guides to legibility of print",Tinker 1963. p. 50. and when direct studies are conducted, anecdotal opinions (even those of experts) can turn out to be false.Tinker 1963. pp. 88, 108, 127, 128, 153; Wheildon 1995. pp. 8, 35. Text that seems legible (visually pleasing at first glance) may be shown to actually impair reading effectiveness when subjected to scientific study.Tinker 1963. pp. 50, 108, 128. A useful example is the Helvetica font, a ubiquitous one that is considered visually pleasing in the construction and viewing of its characters, but has been found to impair reading effectiveness (readability). See Squire 2006. p. 36.
David Jury's book What is Typography? notes, "Changes in spacing either between letters and words, or between the words only... do not appear to affect legibility. These" The bracketed words in the text are Jury's. For the rest of the quoted passage, Jury appears to have drawn on a report by Alison Shaw, Print for Partial Sight: A Research Report, Library Association, 1969, which he identifies on pages 51 and 247. In Jury's endnote on page 247, he points to "research done before, and at approximately the same time as, this 1969 report: G.W. Ovink, Legibility, Atmosphere-value, and Forms of Printing Types, Leiden, 1938. Donald Paterson, Miles A. Tinker, How to Make Type Readable, Harper & Brothers, 1949. Sir Cyril Birt, A Psychological Study of Typography, Cambridge University Press, 1959. Miles A. Tinker, Legibility of Print, Iowa State University Press, 1965. Miles A. Tinker, Bases for effective reading, University of Minnesota Press, 1965. Herbert Spencer, The Visible Word, Lund Humphries, 1968. The ATypI Legibility Research Committee initial report (no named author), Journal of Typographic Research, 1968."
A widespread observation is that increased sentence spacing creates "rivers"Dowding 1995. p. 29; Felici 2003. p. 80; Fogarty 2008. p. 85; Schriver 1997. 270; Smith 2009; Squire 2006. p. 65. or "holes"Garner 2006. p. 83; John Wiley & Sons 2007. p. 153; Jury 2009. p. 58; Jury 2004. p. 92; Rollo 1993. p. 4; Williams 2003. p. 13. within text, making it visually unattractive, distracting, and difficult to locate the end of sentences.Craig and Scala 2006. p. 64; The Design and Publishing Center, cited in Rhodes 1999; Garzia, R.P, and R. London. Vision and Reading. (1995). Mosby Publishing, St Louis. Cited in Scales 2002. p. 4. Other studies show that "irregular and uneven spacing" disrupts the text and may slow the reader; John Wiley & Sons Australia 2007. p. 270. The context of the "irregular and uneven spacing" is concerning justified text. Comprehensive works on typography describe the negative effect on readability caused by inconsistent spacing,Dowding 1995. p. 5; Jury 2004. p. 92. which is supported in a 1981 study which found that "comprehension was significantly less accurate with the river condition".Campbell, Marchetti, and Mewhort 1981. cited in Schriver 1997. p. 270. Another 1981 study on cathode-ray tube (CRT) displays concluded that "more densely packed text is read more efficiently... than is more loosely packed text."Kolers, Duchinsky, and Ferguson 1981. This statement is supported in other works as well. Canadian typographer Geoffrey Dowding suggests possible explanations of this phenomenon:Dowding 1995. pp. 5–6, 29.
Controversy
James Felici, author of the Complete Manual of Typography, says the topic of sentence spacing is "the debate that refuses to die... In all my years of writing about type, it's still the question I hear most often, and a search of the web will find threads galore on the subject".
Bringhurst 2004, p. 28;
Felici 2003, p. 80;
Fogarty 2008, p. 85;
Jury 2009, p. 56;
Shushan and Wright 1989, p. 34;
Smith 2009;
Straus 2009, p. 52;
Strizver 2010;
Walsh 2004, p. 3;
Williams 2003, p. 13.
However, proportional fonts existed together with wide sentence spacing for centuries before the typewriter and remained for decades after its invention. When the typewriter was first introduced, typists were most commonly taught to use three spaces between sentences. This gradually shifted to two spaces, while the print industry remained unchanged in its wide em-spaced sentences. Some sources now state it is acceptable for monospaced fonts to be single-spaced today,Sabin 2005, p. 5. although other references continue to specify double spacing for monospaced fonts.Garner, Newman, and Jackson 2006. "Continue the custom of only if you use a typewriter or the Courier font." The double-space typewriter convention has been taught in schools in typing classes and remains the practice in many cases. Some voice concern that students will later be forced to relearn how to type.Lloyd and Hallahan 2009.
Effects on readability and legibility
Claims abound regarding the legibility and readability of the single- and double-sentence spacing methods by proponents on both sides. Supporters of single-spacing assert that familiarity with the current standard in books, magazines, and the Web enhances readability, that double spacing looks strange in text using proportional fonts, and that the "rivers" and "holes" caused by double spacing impair readability.Williams 2003. 13; Smith 2009. Proponents of double sentence spacing say the extra space between sentences enhances readability by providing clearer breaks between sentences and making text appear more legible.Jury 2004. 92; Williams 1995.
Studies
Direct studies on sentence spacing include those by Loh, Branch, Shewanown, and Ali (2002);Loh et al., 2002. p. 4. and Clinton, Branch, Holschuh, and Shewanown (2003);Clinton 2003. with results favoring neither single, double, nor triple spacing.Leonard, et al. 2009. The 2002 study tested participants' reading speed for passages of on-screen text with single and double sentence spacing. The authors said that "the 'double space group' consistently took longer time to finish than the 'single space' group" but concluded that "there was not enough evidence to suggest that a significant difference exists".Loh et al., 2002. p. 4. The 2003 study analyzed on-screen single, double, and triple spacing. In both cases the authors said there was insufficient evidence to draw a conclusion.Clinton 2003. The study did not find "statistically significant differences between reading time of single and double spaced passages". Ni, Branch, Chen, and Clinton conducted a similar study in 2009 using identical spacing variables. The authors concluded that the "results provided insufficient evidence that time and comprehension differ significantly among different conditions of spacing between sentences".Ni et al. 2009. pp. 383, 387, 390. This study "explored the effects of spacing after the period on on-screen reading tasks through two dependent variables, reading time and reading comprehension". A 2018 study of 60 students found that those who used two word spaces between sentences read the same text 3% faster than with a monospaced font (Courier New).Johnson et al 2018, "Are two spaces better than one? The effect of spacing following periods and commas during reading" (criticism: )
Related studies
There are other studies that could be relevant to sentence spacing,Rhodes 1999. such as the familiarity of typographic conventions on readability. Some studies indicate that "tradition" can increase the readability of text,Tinker 1963. p. 124. and that reading is disrupted when conventional printing arrangements are disrupted or violated.Haber and Haber 1981. pp. 147–148, 152. The standard for the Web and published books, magazines, and newspapers is single sentence spacing.Williams 2003. p. 13.
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