Re: Space before ? ! : ;

"Molly Mockford" <nospamnobody@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:s2QGUCQAHTyDFwwp@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> At 11:12:04 on Sat, 14 Jan 2006, John Briggs <john.briggs4@xxxxxxxxxxxx>
> wrote in <805yf.68246$Cj5.38221@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>:
>
> >Similarly,
> >there used to be conventions for (non-proportional) typewriters. I
usually
> >put two spaces after a full-stop and question mark and exclamation mark),
> >and one space after all other puctuation marks - but there used to be a
> >convention of three spaces after a full stop and two after comma, etc.
>
> I was taught to put three after a full stop, question mark or
> exclamation mark; two after a colon or semi-colon; and one after any
> other piece of punctuation.

Wasn't that Pitman Training?

> These days I've cut the three down to two,
> but I do maintain the two, because I think it adds greatly to the
> readability of the text. Many people have no idea of the importance of
> whitespace!

That's what I do too, even when only writing comments in software,
unless the insertion of two spaces would force an awkward line-break
and a single would not.


.

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