Spaces before punctuation marks!
- Thread starter Apple_Fictor
- Start date
You are certainly NOT supposed to double space after a full stop.
This was introduced thanks to the typewrite and monospaced fonts. Now that we have gorgeous, proportionally spaced typefaces, the double space after a full stop is obsolete.
What really irks me is one of our clients who supplies all of their copy with three spaces after a full stop.
I haven't seen this done anywhere else and it's frankly bizarre. Luckily for me, InDesign and Pages have a find and replace function.
This was introduced thanks to the typewrite and monospaced fonts. Now that we have gorgeous, proportionally spaced typefaces, the double space after a full stop is obsolete.
What really irks me is one of our clients who supplies all of their copy with three spaces after a full stop.
I haven't seen this done anywhere else and it's frankly bizarre. Luckily for me, InDesign and Pages have a find and replace function.
Yeah, when typewriters were introduced, people started typing 2 spaces after a full stop (incorrectly). As the letters and punctuation were monospaced font on typewriters, putting two spaces made it clearer to distinguish between the end of a sentence and the start of another.
When computers were introduced, this was an practice that many people continued, but it is just a legacy of the shortcomings of typewriters. Since most of us don't use typewriters any more, we're not bound by their limitations.
The exception might be when you're using Courier font, but one space after a full stop has been accepted by typographers as the correct practice for centuries.
Edit: beaten!
Did you white "it is" because you don't know the difference between "its" or "it's" ?
No, it isn't a comma.
It's an apostrophe, or have I missed something?
The comma ( , ) is a punctuation mark. It has the same shape as an apostrophe or single closing quotation mark in many typefaces, but it differs from them in being placed on the baseline of the text. Some typefaces render it as a small line, slightly curved or straight but inclined from the vertical, or with the appearance of a small, filled-in number 9. It is used to separate parts of a sentence (linguistics) such as clauses, and lists of three or more things.
The comma is used in many contexts and languages, principally for separating things. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the word comma comes directly from the Greek komma (κόμμα), which means something cut off or a short clause.
Soldato
- Joined
- 21 Oct 2009
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No, it isn't a comma.
It's an apostrophe, or have I missed something?
You have
.It should be obvious why there's a space after a comma though
.You have
I'm sick of these grammar nazi's that don't even know the difference between a comma and an apostrophe!
Well I did say it as more of a joke then anything else so not so serious 
Though that said, I believe it’s a common practice for essay and script writing, along with Harvard Referencing. That’s what I have been lead to believe from past time spent at university anyhow.
See below for someone correcting me
Though that said, I believe it’s a common practice for essay and script writing, along with Harvard Referencing. That’s what I have been lead to believe from past time spent at university anyhow.
See below for someone correcting me
Why? What are you doing? Fapping?
Last time I saw anyone do this was on a typewriter.
I think this is a windup but I'll bite — I've highlighted the important bit from your original post.
Also, let's all quote Wikipedia:
The apostrophe ( ’ often rendered as ' ) is a punctuation mark, and sometimes a diacritic mark, in languages that use the Latin alphabet or certain other alphabets.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), the word apostrophe comes ultimately from Greek ἡ ἀπόστροφος [προσῳδία] (hē apóstrophos [prosōidía], "[the accent of] 'turning away', or elision"), through Latin and French.[2]
Soldato
- Joined
- 21 Oct 2009
- Posts
- 2,742
I think this is a windup but I'll bite — I've highlighted the important bit from your original post.
Also, let's all quote Wikipedia:
The apostrophe ( ’ often rendered as ' ) is a punctuation mark, and sometimes a diacritic mark, in languages that use the Latin alphabet or certain other alphabets.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary (OED), the word apostrophe comes ultimately from Greek ἡ ἀπόστροφος [προσῳδία] (hē apóstrophos [prosōidía], "[the accent of] 'turning away', or elision"), through Latin and French.[2]
What in the above post makes you think he's talking about an apostrophe?
No, it isn't a comma.
It's an apostrophe, or have I missed something?
No it IS a comma,
A comma = ,
An apostrophe = '
Case closed
The fact that he put spaces before the apostrophes in a thread about putting spaces before punctuation marks.
Instead of thinking that he might be serious about not putting a space after a comma,like so,didn't occur to me because it's ridiculous.
As such, I assumed that he must be confused about the difference between commas and apostrophes, not that he was a complete idiot.
I was actually giving him the benefit of the doubt.
I realise now that if I had read what he had written a little bit more closely, and not given him the benefit of any doubt, I wouldn't be coming across as the idiot.
Thank you for clearing that up, I did't know this.