Skip to main content

How Many Spaces After a Period?

What's the rule: Use one space or two spaces after a period? We have the answer (and the reason for it).

Q: My writing course instructor insists that I should go back through my novel manuscript and use only one space after periods instead of two spaces. I was taught that it was always a double space after period. Is she wrong or am I just a dinosaur?—Anonymous

(Click here to view our 12 most popular grammar posts.)

A: The "two spaces after period" rule was established during the days of typesetters, when additional space was needed to show the difference between the spacing between words (which was smaller) and the spacing between sentences (which was larger). When typewriters came around, they had only one font and all the letters were monospaced, or took up the same amount of space. That means that the skinny “l” and wider “w” occupied the same amount of space on paper. People mimicked what they believed to be the format they'd grown used to by adopting two spaces after a period—and that's how the so-called two-space rule was born.

With the dawn of computers, word processing programs not only began offering an absurd number of fonts, but each font was programmed to space characters proportionally (“l” takes up about a third of the space “w” does). In turn, most computer fonts will automatically give you enough room between sentences with one space. And, according to nearly all stylebooks, including The Associated Press Stylebook and the Chicago Manual of Style, you always use a single space after a period.

How Many Spaces After a Period?

The point is, it's not only widely accepted, it's expected that you use only one space after a period. Sorry two-spaces, it's time to make the switch.

QUICK TIP FOR THOSE WHO USE TWO SPACES: If you are someone who can't break your two spaces after a period habit, have no fear! Simply write as you always would (with two spaces) and, when you are finished, got to the toolbar of your word processing program, click EDIT > FIND > REPLACE, and then choose to replace all double spaces with single spaces. Problem solved!

No matter what type of writing you do, mastering the fundamentals of grammar and mechanics is an important first step to having a successful writing career.

No matter what type of writing you do, mastering the fundamentals of grammar and mechanics is an important first step to having a successful writing career.

Click to continue.

What the Death Card Revealed About My Writing Career, by Megan Tady

What the Death Card Revealed About My Writing Career

Award-winning author Megan Tady shares how receiving the death card in relation to her future as an author created new opportunities, including six new habits to protect her mental health.

T.J. English: Making Bad Choices Makes for Great Drama

T.J. English: Making Bad Choices Makes for Great Drama

In this interview, author T.J. English discusses how he needed to know more about the subject before agreeing to write his new true-crime book, The Last Kilo.

Holiday Fight Scene Helper (FightWrite™)

Holiday Fight Scene Helper (FightWrite™)

This month, trained fighter and author Carla Hoch gives the gift of helping you with your fight scenes with this list of fight-related questions to get your creative wheels turning.

One Piece of Advice From 7 Horror Authors in 2024

One Piece of Advice From 7 Horror Authors in 2024

Collected here is one piece of advice for writers from seven different horror authors featured in our author spotlight series in 2024, including C. J. Cooke, Stuart Neville, Del Sandeen, Vincent Ralph, and more.

How to Make a Crazy Story Idea Land for Readers: Bringing Believability to Your Premise, by Daniel Aleman

How to Make a Crazy Story Idea Land for Readers: Bringing Believability to Your Premise

Award-winning author Daniel Aleman shares four tips on how to make a crazy story idea land for readers by bringing believability to your wild premise.

Why I Write: From Sartre to Recovery and Back Again, by Henriette Ivanans

Why I Write: From Sartre to Recovery and Back Again

Author Henriette Ivanans gets existential, practical, and inspirational while sharing why she writes, why she really writes.

5 Tips for Exploring Mental Health in Your Fiction, by Lisa Williamson Rosenberg

5 Tips for Exploring Mental Health in Your Fiction

Author Lisa Williamson Rosenberg shares her top five tips for exploring mental health in your fiction and how that connects to emotion.

Chelsea Iversen: Follow Your Instincts

Chelsea Iversen: Follow Your Instincts

In this interview, author Chelsea Iversen discusses the question she asks herself when writing a character-driven story, and her new historical fantasy novel, The Peculiar Garden of Harriet Hunt.

Your Story #134

Your Story #134

Write a short story of 650 words or fewer based on the photo prompt. You can be poignant, funny, witty, etc.; it is, after all, your story.