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Space after a period

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Divia
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Space after a period

Post by Divia » Mon March 31st, 2014, 1:01 am

OMG. I dont know what to do. I went to find out how many spaces I should have after a period in my manuscript. Some say two which is a throwback from the typewriter. I was always taught one.

Suggestions on what to do from the published authors? I'm lost.

Thanks
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fljustice
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Post by fljustice » Mon March 31st, 2014, 1:27 pm

I grew up with two--which dates me! ;) All the advice I've read (and followed) says use one. So, when I dust off my shorts from two decades ago for a collection, I have to use the "find and replace" function throughout the manuscript.

I've also been tripped up the the Oxford comma. I grew up with the rule that the comma before "and" in a series was optional and only used if needed to clarify. The consensus in the US seems to have shifted to using the third comma in all cases and I've been dinged by reviewers who decry my absence of commas. So I've given in and use abundant commas!
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Elizabeth
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Post by Elizabeth » Mon March 31st, 2014, 2:43 pm

I use one space after a period and no one (agent, editor, copyeditor, et al) has ever commented on it one way or the other. I think you're right that the two spaces originated with the typewriter, and the old monospaced typewriters at that. (Which is what I learned on, back in the Dark Ages, and so I had to retrain myself when I started working on a computer.)

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Post by DanielAWillis » Tue April 1st, 2014, 4:10 am

According to my editor, to whom I always defer when talking punctuation, one period. As for the Oxford comma, it is still the writer's option, just be consistent. I was raised with a comma before the and so there it will remain.

And that is the only comma rule I can remember. I screw up the rest often enough that my editor keeps a comma bag next to manuscript so she can easily reach for them as needed.
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Divia
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Post by Divia » Tue April 1st, 2014, 8:16 pm

Thanks everyone!!! This makes me feel better. I was worried I was gonna have to change it.

As for commas....oh dear..... :eek:
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MLE (Emily Cotton)
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Post by MLE (Emily Cotton) » Tue April 1st, 2014, 9:24 pm

On commas: the use of these is a matter of personal style, like the way you put pauses in your natural speech. I'm not writing scientific essays or college English papers, so I put commas in wherever I would put a break in my own speech, if I were speaking to a storytelling audience. I use the em dash and en dash in the same way, to break things up a little.

Readers who don't like my stye -- and I'm sure there are many -- have plenty of other fiction options, so we can all go our merry way and please our own tastes.

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Misfit
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Post by Misfit » Tue April 1st, 2014, 9:47 pm

[quote=""Divia""]OMG. I dont know what to do. I went to find out how many spaces I should have after a period in my manuscript. Some say two which is a throwback from the typewriter. I was always taught one.

Suggestions on what to do from the published authors? I'm lost.

Thanks[/quote]

Another throwback here, although I dumped the two spaces after a period years ago. On Word (or similar) it just looks too long, especially when margin justification enters the picture.
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Re: Space after a period

Post by John Sliz » Tue April 12th, 2016, 7:38 pm

I leave only one space after a period and I love the Oxford comma in certain places.

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