Over the last several months I have discovered that there are two things that I have always taken for granted about grammar and writing that are actually questioned by smart people. I’m talking about people like you and me, who read a lot, and even who write a lot. The first was a hard-won lesson in style: the reduction of spaces after the end of a sentence from two to one. It is natural for me, after typing a period, to hit the space bar twice. I don’t even think about it. It’s like breathing or riding a bicycle or feathering my precious side bangs. I took typing class in 1984 from a wizened little nun named Sister Ernestine who would rap girls on the fingers with her cane if they glanced down at the keyboard of the electric typewriters we used for our lessons. As typography evolved with the now ubiquitous use of desktop computers, the need for two spaces after a period went away, because electronic fonts allow for alignment of space that pleases the eye in a way that the mechanical typewriter could not. I came to know that editorial standards no longer dictate the use of two spaces after a sentence only late last year, and it floored me. I was on the floor, picking up my lost spaces as they fell through my fingers. I could not have been more shocked. Because of that unexpected paradigm shift in my writing and editorial practice, I second-guessed myself a bit when recently I was questioned about my use of a period inside quotation marks. No less than two people suggested, when reading a document I drafted, that I place the period outside the marks. (Heavy sigh.) So I looked it up. Not only does it look right inside the quotation marks, IT IS RIGHT. At least in this country. God bless America.
Just One Paragraph 6/30
LOVE!
For a while, I was down right indignant about changing to one space after a period — MAKE ME, I said. I, too, was taught to double space and old habits die hard. THEN …. as I was working on the weekly school e-blasts, the program decided it WAS going to make me. When I added the second space, my paragraphs got all lopsided and the OCD in me could.not.take.it. So I succumbed. Now I’m hip and cool and scoff at the two-space losers out there. (But please don’t make me put the period outside the quotation mark. I don’t think my heart could take it.)
OMG. I have to THINK when I type a period now. Tough stuff. I took two typing classes: Beginning and Advanced, both on the awesome IBM Selectric. I go back and forth all the time. But period outside of a quotation mark? No can do.
Also, I thought this post was going to be about your monthly cycle. I loved the tactical facepalm for that topic as well.
We’ve had this debate at work too! Great post!
My husband is a graphic designer who works heavily with print layouts, and he’s the one who told me about dropping that extra space after the period a few years ago–I never did take typing classes, but it was still a big adjustment. And I’ve got your back on the period inside the quotation marks thing (although I’m glad you found a more authoritative source on that one!).
Florinda recently posted…TLC Book Tour: THE VIRGIN CURE, by Ami McKay
Who knew! Thanks for the info. 🙂 And yes, period inside quotation marks IS right.