We've had every grammar thread, apart from...

[whitevanman88]

the one moaning about people , who use punctuation , like this !

Why do we need a space either side of punctuation marks ? It seems very pointless to me , but an increasing amount of people seem to this this is acceptable !!

Why , ? !

[ShadownINja]

Ignorance is the answer.

[Don]

It isn't.

[whitevanman88]

Is it because , Jeremy Clarkson , pauses, soooo much , when he talks , and people , want to be like him , in the world , and feel , that this use , of punctuation , mimmicks him ? In the world . Ever .

[StevieBee]

In the days of the old fashion block typewriter, each character took up the same amount of width so many punctuation marks appeared as you state.

When word processors were introduced, character spacing become proportional but typists thought this looked odd so added a space and the practice has sort of stuck.

There's also a more modern reason. The font management in Word is not that good (compared to proper typesetting / design software such as Quark). The font cut for punctuation marks tends to be common to many faces and works better with some than with others so you often see inconsistencies in the way type is presented.

The other option is of course that people who write this way are thick.

[G_T]

whitevanman88 said:

the one moaning about people , who use punctuation , like this !

Why do we need a space either side of punctuation marks ? It seems very pointless to me , but an increasing amount of people seem to this this is acceptable !!

Why , ? !

It's because we're all fking stupid.

Are you happy now?

[whitevanman88]

G_T said:

whitevanman88 said:

the one moaning about people , who use punctuation , like this !

Why do we need a space either side of punctuation marks ? It seems very pointless to me , but an increasing amount of people seem to this this is acceptable !!

Why , ? !

It's because we're all fking stupid.

Are you happy now?

No.

[andy_s]

The French do it : like that, reason enough not to.

[Size Nine Elm]

Personally   ,    I blame   , Tony   ,   Blair.         In       ,    serious  ,     I'm    not really      guilty    mode      .

Edited by Size Nine Elm on Thursday 28th January 14:52

[HundredthIdiot]

StevieBee said:

In the days of the old fashion block typewriter, each character took up the same amount of width so many punctuation marks appeared as you state.

Not sure which days you remember, but as I recall mechanical typewriters in the 70s had proportional spacing.

IBM claims that this modern convenience was invented in 1941.

Also, when typing on a mechanical typewriter you would use a space after a comma (but not before) just as you do on a computer.

Edited by HundredthIdiot on Thursday 28th January 15:02

[onomatopoeia]

There should be a space after a comma and two after a full stop. At least that was what I was taught, if I'm wrong I expect someone will be along shortly to give accurate information.

[G_T]

onomatopoeia said:

There should be a space after a comma and two after a full stop. At least that was what I was taught, if I'm wrong I expect someone will be along shortly to give accurate information.

My Mrs said the same thing to me and she has recently completed one of these writing class thingys as a chartered accountant.

I believe her but never bother. I double my efficiency by just tapping the space bar once.

[TonyHetherington]

onomatopoeia said:

There should be a space after a comma and two after a full stop. At least that was what I was taught, if I'm wrong I expect someone will be along shortly to give accurate information.

You're quite correct (and I agree ), but I think the point here was punctuation with spaces before it. Like this !

I do, however, ignore such things; so many people are browsing PH in such different ways that it's difficult to know whether it be the user or the format that is at fault. (iphones, blackberrys, notebooks, mobile phones etc.)

[Engineer1]

Double space after a full stop is the sort of BS enforced by universities, where it makes sense if you have to read twenty 3000word essays then you will want the text to be as easy on the eye as possible, especially as there are generally marks for legibility and readability as well as content.