Microsoft has issued a typographical edict that states that using two spaces between sentences is meaningless, as two spaces between sentences is too many. So, choosing this formatting option will soon be flagged as an error in Microsoft Word. This will result in “grayish blue zigzag lines” appearing to users who press the spacebar twice after a period.
The change, which was first spotted by Alan Chen, a law professor at the University of Denver, and reported by technology magazine The Verge, is rolling out gradually across Microsoft Word. This means some users may not have noticed it yet if they haven't updated software .
The habit of double-spacing dates back to the typewriter era, when typists would press the spacebar twice to more clearly define the end of a sentence. At that time, there was only one font, and the characters were “single-sided,” meaning they took up the same amount of space on the page. Today, however, most fonts adjust the width of the characters so that sentences are more readable.
Few formatting guides recommend using two spaces after a period. In particular, APA Style, the Chicago Manual of Style, and the AP & US Government Printing Office Style Manual recommend one space between sentences. Using two spaces has few benefits, other than taking up more space on a page. If you can't get used to using one space, here's what you can do: When Microsoft Word flags the two spaces as an error, you can right-click to see your options. You can also tell Word to ignore this issue when it occurs again, or you can view any grammatical issues the software will flag, and then remove the spaces from the list of errors.
