Re: Spaces after full stop

["heidi arnold" <heidi -dot- w -dot- arnold -at- gmail -dot- com>]

i have not been included in this discussion and have made no
agreements of any kind.  some of you know where i live.

best regards,

heidi

On 10/8/07, brianlindgren -at- aol -dot- com <brianlindgren -at- aol -dot- com> wrote:
> Actually, typesetting had the rule of a single space after a period. It was typewriting that had two spaces -- again, because of the monotype issue (Courier font in the case of a typewriter).
>
> Not sure about the rule for old hot type typesetting, but for all electronic typesetting, the rule was to use a single space after punctuation.
>
> Even if this is the rule, though, there are times -- as with any convention -- that one needs to be flexible. For example, the rule to spell out numbers from nine down but to use digits for 10 and above. If a number starts a sentence I will generally spell it?out regardless of whether it exceeds 10, and for technical measurements digits are used regardless of whether the number is nine or less.
>
> Often I add hyphens to words to avoid confusion regardless of whether the hyphen is necessary. I might need to tell someone that I "re-sent" a message so they won't think I "resent" it.
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Lauren <lt34 -at- csus -dot- edu>
> To: 'Dossy Shiobara' <dossy -at- panoptic -dot- com>; techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> Sent: Mon, 8 Oct 2007 3:03 pm
> Subject: RE: Spaces after full stop
>
>
>
> Dossy,
>
> You seem to imply that removing the extra space is a defect of word
> processing, but you fail to consider the fact that the addition of the extra
> space in early typesetting was to correct the defect of lost punctuation*
> because of how typesetters set type.
>
> I think that a better argument for the extra space could be made if
> pre-typesetting, handwritten script used extra space between sentences, but
> examples of handwritten documents before typesetting, like the
> Constitution**, do not show extra space.  The fact that an extra space
> became necessary with typesetting is irrelevant when considered with script,
> so the rule of one space is correct, although I still use two.
>
> The example, "I went to the Dr. His name is Bob," does not really help the
> argument about using extra space between sentences because a proper sentence
> would contain an abbreviation of "doctor" as "Dr." when "Dr." is not used as
> a title for a person.  Asking that we ignore the improper use of a title in
> the example does not help the argument because the error of why titles
> should not be used becomes entangled with the argument of why spaces should
> be used and creates confusion about why a convention is better than another.
>
>
> Titles that precede names must not have an extra space or any extra
> punctuation between the title and the name.  As far as I know, the British
> standard is to not punctuate the title.  Titles are not used as stand-alone
> words.  If the title example was provided as an example of problems with an
> abbreviation at the end of a sentence, then we should discuss proper
> abbreviations.  Proper abbreviations at the ends of sentences are no more
> confusing with or without extra space.
>
> Lauren
>
> * Near as I can recall, since I haven't read the typesetting rules in 16
> years, the rules of extra space were to account for the fragileness of
> punctuation with tails.  Primarily, the purpose of the extra space was to
> distinguish periods and colons from commas and semi-colons, since tails of
> commas and semi-colons were fragile and would get lost, so the punctuation
> was easily confused.  That problem no longer exists.
>
> ** The Constitution and other handwritten documents,
> http://www.archives.gov/national-archives-experience/charters/charters_downl
> oads.html.
>
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: techwr-l-bounces+lt34=csus -dot- edu -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> > [mailto:techwr-l-bounces+lt34=csus -dot- edu -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com] On
> > Behalf Of Dossy Shiobara
> > Sent: Monday, October 08, 2007 11:04 AM
> > To: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
> > Subject: Re: Spaces after full stop
> >
> > I keep seeing two things mentioned in responses:
> >
> > 1) There's a reason to use two spaces after
> > periods--embedding semantic
> >    information (i.e., end of sentence) in the data (the copy text).
> >
> > 2) Since the introduction of computerized word processing,
> > deficiencies
> >    in implementations of word processors and layout engines
> > have caused
> >    people to stop using two spaces after periods that end sentences.
> >
> > IMHO, #2 is a defect and needs to be corrected.  Software should be
> > fixed so that end of sentence periods--those followed by a newline, or
> > two spaces--are laid out properly.  Using only one space
> > loses valuable
> > semantic information.
> >
> > How is it valuable?  While a human may be able to infer where
> > a sentence
> > ends, it's a much harder task for a computer.  Take this sentence, for
> > example:
> >
> >     "I went to the Dr. His name is Bob."
> >
> > One sentence?  Or two?  I'm pretty sure most humans can tell it's
> > supposed to be two.  (Ignore arguments that "Dr." shouldn't have been
> > abbreviated there, and instead spelled out as "doctor".)
> >
> > However, think about the task for a computer: is this actually two
> > sentences, where the recommendation "expand 'Dr.' to
> > 'doctor'" should be
> > made, or is it one single grammatically incorrect sentence?  If there
> > were two spaces following "Dr.", the added semantic
> > information encoded
> > in the data would disambiguate the sentence in a way that the software
> > could handle very easily.
> >
> > In the end, I still use two spaces after end of sentence
> > periods within
> > paragraphs because I find them more aesthetically pleasing that way.
> > It's just a pity that a deficiency in the more common word processors
> > have driven others to abandon the practice.  :-(
> >
> > -- Dossy
> >
> > --
> > Dossy Shiobara              | dossy -at- panoptic -dot- com | http://dossy.org/
> > Panoptic Computer Network   | http://panoptic.com/
> >   "He realized the fastest way to change is to laugh at your own
> >     folly -- then you can let go and quickly move on." (p. 70)
>
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-- 
www.heidiarnold.org
www.peaceraptor.blogspot.com
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