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Basically, a bunch of people got together and said that when typing on a computer, you need one space after each sentence. This is due to variable size spacing, meaning that they can manually make it better. However, I believe that two spaces after a sentence should remain a standard option.
First off, there is no reason other then some people's opinions. Over the last ten years, their have been three separate studies on this topic. All of them returned the same results - a minimal difference, too close to have any significant conclusion. This means that the only reason that it is "informal" is due to them calling it obsolete.
However, is it obsolete? It is actually detrimental to use a single space after a sentence. Using one space makes it harder to differentiate between abbreviations and the end of a sentence. I.E., abbreviating Internet Explorer as IE. Also, there is even more reason to use double spaces, as it is much quicker. The argument that you can manually change the spacing is assuming that you have enough time. It is much quicker to fix the spacing by double tapping space after a sentence then it is to manually edit every sentence.
Several arguments against double spacing come down to the amount of wasted space on the paper. On the other hand, several people, including myself, believe that the additional spaces allow you to clearly see where sentences begin and end.
Another reason why people are against double spacing is due to the fact that HTML does not support it, instead replacing it with a single space. That is why you never see multiple spaces in a row on the internet. An example of it is this thread, where I have typed it with double spacing, yet it does not show up.
Finally, I really want to stress this one point: It doesn't matter. Again, studies show that their is no conclusive difference in reading speed due to spacing. Most reasons that people have stated to not use double spacing is due to their own personal opinion. The fact that it is something so trivial that so many people are complaining about is ridiculous. I personally believe that you should be able to pick which method of typing that you would want to use, and it should be a non-issue.
 
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Russian Federation3631 Posts
ifitdoesn'tmatterI'drathersavemyspacebar
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I use single spaces between sentences on forums. I use double spaces on all other writing, or at least I used to, until I went to grad school for math. Now everything I write except TL posts is typeset in LaTeX, which ignores whitespace and formats by itself. Honestly I have no idea if the AMS article document class uses single or double spaces, and I no longer care.
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There have been studies about this? And they show that it doesn't improve reading comprehension?
All I can say is that I feel blessed html has forced you to conform to my preferences. Double spaces looks like padding, and when I actually see people do it I cringe. Sentences flow together, like in speech. It perturbs me to see them far apart, like islands off in the distance. Same with people who put spaces between paragraphs when they can use intents (sadly html doesn't side with me on this).
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Oof. This is extremely poorly written grade-school-looking prose. Why did you post this? :S
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romans didnt need spaces why should I
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I thought people only added double spaces after their sentences in an attempt to make their high school papers look longer than they really were, much like changing the size to 12.5 instead of 12, or adjusting the margins. If you really can't tell where a sentence begins and ends due to abbreviations (most of which aren't used in formal essays and articles, let alone would happen to be found as the last word of a sentence), I think your problem lies with your reading comprehension skills, rather than the punctuation choice.
But whatever.
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nah it's a holdover from typewriters
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On November 30 2012 11:30 sam!zdat wrote:
nah it's a holdover from typewriters
Pretty much this. I'm surprised in your research you didn't come across this at all.
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On November 30 2012 10:12 Iranon wrote:
I use single spaces between sentences on forums. I use double spaces on all other writing, or at least I used to, until I went to grad school for math. Now everything I write except TL posts is typeset in LaTeX, which ignores whitespace and formats by itself. Honestly I have no idea if the AMS article document class uses single or double spaces, and I no longer care.
+1 for LaTeX. It's confusing as hell in the beginning, but an absolute godsend for formatting. Once you have a standard format set up for papers, you never really have to think of things again. Plus, math equations look beautiful in LaTeX.
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This must be a US thing or something, I've only ever used single space. Why exactly would you need two?
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On November 30 2012 17:54 HwangjaeTerran wrote:
This must be a US thing or something, I've only ever used single space. Why exactly would you need two?
This, I've never heard about double spaces outside of american forums. One is perfectly fine.
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Baa?21247 Posts
this reads like a really bad high school persuasive essay
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Pandemona
Charlie Sheens House51493 Posts
two spacing is stupid
i have never done it, but then again i have never been told. Looks better once spacing vs two imo anyway.
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EPT
