Vermont Bar Journal, Vol. 40, No. 2 Fall 2014, Vol. 40, No. 3 | Page 39

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Use Two Spaces Between Sentences,
Not One

You were patient with me on the split infinitive, but now you are probably saying,
“He has gone too far.” If you think the split
infinitive rule is controversial, try stepping
into this space debate. Yes, I understand
that using two spaces between sentences
is a typographical anachronism. Yes, I have
read the widely circulated article on Slate
slamming the two-space rule.23 Yes, alas, I
have read the blog post entitled, “Nothing
Says Over 40 Like Two Spaces After a Period!”24 Still, I recommend doing it. The second space re-enforces visually the point of
the period: The writer has completed one
thought and is about to begin another one.
The second space gives the reader a microsecond to catch his or her breath before
launching in to a new thought.
To see this point, hold a page of text
at arm’s length. From that distance, you
can see the second space creates a resting place and symmetry on the page. With
just one space, the text looks flat-lined.
The space between sentences becomes no
more important than the space between
words. Yet the space between sentences
is more important than the space between
words. One style manual notes that what
we call a period the British call a “full stop.”
The manual prefers “full stop” because of

THE VERMONT BAR JOURNAL • FALL 2014

Sweat the Small Stuff

to four block quotes in a ten-page document is about right. Finally, use double
quotation marks to set off a word used as a
term. Correct: Congress deliberately used
the terms “false” and “fraudulent.” Incorrect: Congress deliberately used the terms
‘false’ and ‘fraudulent.’20
Here is a punctuation rule that catches
some people: “Always place commas and
periods inside the quotation marks; place
other punctuation marks inside the quotation marks only if they are part of the original text.”21 So, no exceptions for the period and comma—they always go inside the
quotation mark regardless of whether they
are part of the quoted material. For all other punctuation marks, put them inside the
quotation mark only if they are part of the
quoted material. Example: Attorney Baker
asked, “Did I really say that?” Did Attorney
Baker really attribute her client’s suicide to
“poor sales projections”?22
While these rules may seem trivial, you
need to remember that an unseen but important reader of anything you file in court
is the judge’s law clerk. That clerk has likely
just spent two years on law review memorizing The Bluebook and The Redbook. He
or she will know to put the period and comma inside the quotation mark. If you fail to
do this innocuous thing, you have just lost
points with this all-important reader.

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