How many spaces should you have after a sentence? As this piece in Slate lays out, the modern typographic rule is one. The two-space rule is an artifact of typewriters, whose monospaced typeface made two spaces a semi-necessary means of delineating the sentence space in a setting that afforded none of the spatial flexibility used by typographers to make paragraphs aesthetically pleasing. Modern use of double spaces after paragraphs, the story goes, is simply the residual effect of a bad habit required by inferior and now-obsolete technology.

So why do I put two spaces at the ends of my sentences?

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