Is this one sentence or two?

[arjaybe]

I can think of one way this could be resolved. If we were still using the old practice of having two spaces after a full stop, there would be no uncertainty. The modern practice of single spaces only didn't anticipate this.

[RobertDDL]

Originally Posted by arjaybe

I can think of one way this could be resolved.

What I cannot think of is why it has to be resolved. This said, I agree with the prevailing "it is one sentence" sentiment. If you want to promote the (to me, appalling) "two spaces after full stop" format, please come up with a better example.

[arjaybe]

Originally Posted by RobertDDL

What I cannot think of is why it has to be resolved. This said, I agree with the prevailing "it is one sentence" sentiment. If you want to promote the (to me, appalling) "two spaces after full stop" format, please come up with a better example.

Not promoting anything. Just pointing out the feet of clay on the "one space everywhere" paragon.-) Mostly though, just bemused by something I noticed and thought I'd share it. I apologize for appalling you.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by arjaybe

Not promoting anything. Just pointing out the feet of clay on the "one space everywhere" paragon.-)

Do you mean "paradigm" rather than "paragon"? Your post doesn't really make much sense as it stands.

[arjaybe]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Do you mean "paradigm" rather than "paragon"? Your post doesn't really make much sense as it stands.

Don't you know what a paragon is?

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by arjaybe

Don't you know what a paragon is?

Certainly I do: "a model or pattern of excellence". I just don't see how it makes sense in the context of your sentence. Forgive me if I'm misunderstanding you.

[RobertDDL]

Originally Posted by arjaybe

I apologize for appalling you.

You haven't appalled me, but the two spaces after full stops do when they appear in a text I read on the screen. I think it's for a good reason that enlarged spaces between sentences are not used in printed texts anymore. Absolutely not!

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by RobertDDL

You haven't appalled me, but the two spaces after full stops do when they appear in a text I read on the screen. I think it's for a good reason that enlarged spaces between sentences are not used in printed texts anymore. Absolutely not!

The primary reason is simply that they only make sense with monospaced fonts and ragged-right justification - ie, typewritten manuscripts. When you have proportional fonts, and full justification which can add arbitrary amounts of space after any word, it's not possible to tell what's a single and what's a double space.

[RobertDDL]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The primary reason is simply that they only make sense with monospaced fonts and ragged-right justification - ie, typewritten manuscripts. When you have proportional fonts, and full justification which can add arbitrary amounts of space after any word, it's not possible to tell what's a single and what's a double space.

It is possible -- within each line, one or two spaces would still be discernible. It has been done, only it has gone out of fashion -- one example that I happen to know are Burton's 16 volumes of "1001 Nights," you find the scans on http://www.burtoniana.org/books/1885-Arabian%20Nights/. I've seen it in 19th century German books, too, but in German it is not used even with monospaced/ragged-margin texts nowadays.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by RobertDDL

It is possible -- within each line, one or two spaces would still be discernible. It has been done, only it has gone out of fashion -- one example that I happen to know are Burton's 16 volumes of "1001 Nights," you find the scans on http://www.burtoniana.org/books/1885-Arabian%20Nights/. I've seen it in 19th century German books, too, but in German it is not used even with monospaced/ragged-margin texts nowadays.

Punctuation styles change with time, too. For example, in English it used to be the case (in the 19th century, for example) that punctuation marks such as ";" and ":" had a space both before and after them, whereas now the space before the punctuation has disappeared. It is, however, still present in modern French.

[PeterT]

I saw this just now and had to laugh. http://www.cultofpedagogy.com/two-spaces-after-period/

[Image violates guidelines for size - MODERATOR]

[ApK]

Never!!!! I REFUSE to give in to smushed together, dense paragraphs!

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by PeterT

I saw this just now and had to laugh. http://www.cultofpedagogy.com/two-spaces-after-period/

Yes, that article is making exactly the same argument I made in post #23 above.

[arjaybe]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Certainly I do: "a model or pattern of excellence". I just don't see how it makes sense in the context of your sentence. Forgive me if I'm misunderstanding you.

I'm at a loss. It's so obvious to me that I despair of explaining it to someone who can't see it. Maybe if it was explained to me more clearly why a paragon can't have feet of clay . . .

[gmw]

Originally Posted by PeterT

I saw this just now and had to laugh. http://www.cultofpedagogy.com/two-spaces-after-period/[...]

Her follow-up post is perhaps more educational than the original (and makes me like her better), same goes for the comments. The two-spaces thing is not completely gone from style-guides, it is simply wrong to give a blanket statement either way. I'd also add that monospaced font still gets used for some things, so the original reasons for two spaces can still exist in some contexts.

I haven't bothered to try and break my habit of placing two spaces after a period. I still find it useful, even in proportional spaced typing, but more often than not it has no effect on the final presentation. If you're reading this post, it was written with two spaces between sentences, but you will be reading it with one. All done automatically for me via the HTML presentation. For producing my printed books I simply do a change-all on two-spaces to one*, a few seconds later I have my entire book in the currently preferred style - so much easier than breaking a habit that I personally still like.

* This only works if you are careful to always use styles to control other aspects of formatting, and don't try to indent (or whatever) using spaces (always risky).