Macmillan Holdings, LLC. Grammar Girl, Grammar Girl's, QDnow, and Quick and Dirty Tips are all trademarks of Macmillan Holdings, LLC. Today's topic is style guides. It's true that when it comes to grammar. notyourmomsminivan grammar Thanks Grammar Girl for all your great tips! You always seem to have an answer for my question of the day! http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/im-so-stylish.aspx?commentid=18519#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/im-so-stylish.aspx?commentid=18519#Comments Wed, 19 Aug 2009 15:01:50 GMT Erica in Texas grammar I am from the two-spaces school of thought.__I am enforcing it via underscores because the software for this site will remove one of them against my wishes.__It is simply easier to read and find one's place within a paragraph after having glanced away.__Certainly there is something negative to be said for the cramped appearance of single space, it can be as distracting as poorly spaced words of forced justification. http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/im-so-stylish.aspx?commentid=15685#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/im-so-stylish.aspx?commentid=15685#Comments Mon, 09 Feb 2009 04:40:02 GMT John from Lorain grammar In my first sentence, please delete the comma after the word, "better." Aha! I see that the blogging software deleted one of my two spaces after each period. Naughty, naughty! http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/im-so-stylish.aspx?commentid=14585#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/im-so-stylish.aspx?commentid=14585#Comments Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:49:08 GMT John from Lorain grammar When I was young (in the 1950s and 1960s), I used one space, defying people who insisted that using two spaces was better, to help readers (whose eyes look ahead) to anticipate the coming end of a sentence. When I got a little older, I realized that I had been wrong to use just one space, and I switched to two, because I think that it makes the text look much cleaner and less cramped. It also helps older people to perceive "end-of-sentence," even if their eyes may have trouble seeing a period. I recommend that everyone use two spaces, regardless of whether they are using a kerned or monospaced typeface. PS: If this message of mine has appeared with just one space between sentences, it was the fault of the blogging software, which must have deleted one of my two spaces! http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/im-so-stylish.aspx?commentid=14584#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/im-so-stylish.aspx?commentid=14584#Comments Mon, 03 Nov 2008 13:46:13 GMT Jessica grammar Thanks so much for providing such useful information on your site! I wanted to let you know about an update you might consider making to your Sample Style Guides section: You list the American Psychological Society and link to the American Psychological Association, also APS has been (somewhat recently) renamed to the Association for Psychological Science. Thanks again! http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/im-so-stylish.aspx?commentid=11503#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/im-so-stylish.aspx?commentid=11503#Comments Mon, 21 Jan 2008 00:22:48 GMT mseik grammar Well, this is actually pretty simple. There are regulations that a clearly stated for each of the major professional arenas: AP Style (journalism): "SPACING: Use a single space after a period at the end of a sentence." Chicago Manual 6.11 (writers, publishers, proofreaders, editors, formatters/graphic designers): "[i]Space between sentences.[/i]In typeset matter, one space, not two (in other words, a regular word space), follows any mark of punctuation that ends a sentence, whether a period, a colon, a question mark, an exclamation point, or closing quotation marks." MLA has already been quoted here, and APA (American Psychological Association) style manual, used in behavioral health and human services organizations, also stipulates one space after punctuation. If you're sending an email to a friend, put as many spaces as you can dream of. If your writing is going to be formatted, reviewed, or published in any format, the across-the-board rule is one space. Simple, utilitarian, concise, easy to remember, what's not to like? ...and I'm also confident people can find much more scintillating topics to get fired up about! http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/im-so-stylish.aspx?commentid=5066#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/im-so-stylish.aspx?commentid=5066#Comments Sun, 23 Sep 2007 23:57:43 GMT Grammar Girl grammar I just discovered an entry on the Modern Language Association website about the number of spaces that should go after a period. (They favor one space.) http://www.mla.org/style/style_faq/style_faq3 http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/im-so-stylish.aspx?commentid=4239#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/im-so-stylish.aspx?commentid=4239#Comments Wed, 19 Sep 2007 02:35:19 GMT aardvark grammar Priya,What type of formal mail communication are you asking about?aardvark is confused about the Tom part. If the communication is formal, wouldn't you be calling Tom by his last name? Dear Mr. Thumb,Dear Mr. Brokaw,Give aardvark an example, and he will endeavor to answer your question.Sincerely,Judge aardvark http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/im-so-stylish.aspx?commentid=1587#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/im-so-stylish.aspx?commentid=1587#Comments Sat, 14 Jul 2007 20:40:26 GMT Priya grammar What do you think about using "Hi" to address people in a formal mail communication? something like "Hi Tom, ..." http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/im-so-stylish.aspx?commentid=1586#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/im-so-stylish.aspx?commentid=1586#Comments Fri, 13 Jul 2007 00:31:43 GMT scott grammar Does anyone have experiance dealing with style guides in translation work? http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/im-so-stylish.aspx?commentid=1585#Comments http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/im-so-stylish.aspx?commentid=1585#Comments Wed, 02 May 2007 12:47:41 GMT Wed, 19 Aug 2009 15:01:50 GMT http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/im-so-stylish.aspx feedback@quickanddirtytips.com (Managing Editor) feedback@quickanddirtytips.com (Webmaster) en-us