Questions tagged [spacing]
Questions about the use of whitespace characters
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Most elegant/correct spacing method for "/" with multi-word operands?
Suppose one wants to give alternative single words around a slash, like: alpha/beta. This is simple, and the convention seems to be no spaces.
But what if one wishes to give something like "BBC&...
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The space or space (means universe)?
I have 2 sentences:
-There are billions of stars in space.
-There are billions of stars in the space.
and:
-Beyond the stars, the astronaut saw nothing but space.
-Beyond the stars, the astronaut saw ...
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When ending clause in a comma, which is followed by a colon, should there be a space in-between [closed]
Say that I am giving an introductory clause with a list of things, using the colon. If I also use a secondary clause, by way of a comma to explain the first clause, do I separate the comma and colon ...
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Punctuating local area names
I'm writing an informational essay that includes a description of an organization called Shepherd Community Center, and they say they work primarily in the "near Eastside of Indianapolis." I'...
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Where in CMoS does it specify spacing before a footnote? [closed]
In this answer, it is suggested that the Chicago Manual of Style (CMoS) specifies whether spaces precede a footnote indicator. The main three choices I see being:
Here is no space.1
Here is a hair ...
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Can you use a section sign (§) to replace whitespace in creative fiction?
I'm currently writing a novel and have a portion in my chapter where a character goes over a key memory in his past. It cuts the actual scene taking place in half. I was thinking about simply using ...
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Is it "clipart" or "clip art"?
What is a correct spelling - "clipart" or "clip art"?
Is there any difference in meaning?
May it be language specific, like American, British, Australian?
Maybe "clip-art"?
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Is double spacing after a period now a thing?
I’m not sure if it’s a new thing or that I just didn’t notice it before, but I’m noticing a lot of double spacing after periods (full-stops) lately.
Here’s a comment I found on reddit for example:
...
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Should commas *always* be followed by spaces?
When teaching and proofreading, I often come across examples of commas without spaces following them (e.g. "London,UK" or "apples,oranges,bananas"). In addition to correcting these, I would like to ...
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should there be space between a sentence and question mark or not? [duplicate]
while asking questions in the sentence do we need to give space between question mark (?) and the sentence.
what is your name?
what is your name ?
which one is correct?
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Is there a grammatically need to hyphenate the compound words "dumb f*ck" within a novel?
Would I leave the space, hyphenate it, or combine the two works like its similar, less aggressive counterpart: "dumbass"
The quote from my novel is from dialogue
"It's been six years, you dumb ...
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Beesting or bee sting
A friend made a typo when writing "bee sting" and wrote "beesting" but apparently this is also a word according to Merriam-Webster.
Does anyone actually use "beesting" if so, is it a result of some ...
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Word for using extra line breaks to improve readability
I just got a copy of Royal Skousen's The Book of Mormon: The Earliest Text (Yale, 2009),
and was immediately struck by his implementation of what he calls "sense-lines":
that is,
the editor ...
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"Testbed" or "test bed"? [duplicate]
"A testbed is a platform for conducting rigorous, transparent, and replicable testing of scientific theories, computational tools, and new technologies" (Wikipedia).
While Wikipedia seems to prefer "...
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Parentheses within abbreviations
The example that I have is from South Africa. Chartered accountants here abbreviate their titles in emails to:
CA(SA)
This is meant to abbreviate "Chartered Accountant (South Africa)". I feel, ...
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What is the rule for spacing between words and the character &? [duplicate]
What is the rule for spacing between words and the character &? For example, do I have to space Espresso&Tonic - Espresso & Tonic, although I am talking about one drink made with an ...
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When did 'some one' turn to 'someone'?
I was recently reading a book from sometime in the first half of the 20th century and I noticed that the word ‘someone’ was spelled separately as ‘some one’.
Was there an official change at some ...
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Does the word "foot" refers to something else different of a part of a body [closed]
I'm reading about astronomy and all that stuff and I found this phrase pretty interesting, is from the book "Is life out there" by Sara Seager and she makes an analogy with the impossibility of ...
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3
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Trade marks or trademarks?
What is the correct format to use when referring to trademarks in British English? Is "trademarks" generally preferable?
I've seen both used in different contexts, the UK GOV page uses "trade marks", ...
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(un)conditional or (un-)conditional?
I want to write "conditional (mean imputation)" and "unconditional (mean imputation)" shorter, which of these 4 is the best way to do that? If multiple ways are correct, which is the most common (in ...
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"Filepath" or "file path"? [closed]
A path, the general form of the name of a file or directory, specifies
a unique location in a file system.
"Filename" is a compound, but how about "filepath"/"file path"? "Filepath" seems incorrect ...
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Can we use the wording "We can not only ... but also ..."?
Is the following wording okay?
He can not only do this, but also do that.
In this case, it seems that the writer is dividing 'cannot' into two words. Is that acceptable?
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"Webpages" or "Web Pages"?
Sometimes I found it written as "WebPages" and sometimes it is "Web Pages" ..
I'm confused should it be written as one word or two words ?!
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Why is the noun "blacklist" (written without a space) in the dictionary, but not "whitelist"? [closed]
Checking Oxford Dictionaries Online, I find the noun blacklist, written as one word, and the noun white list, written as two. There is no black list defined as a compound written open, and there is no ...
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Should spaces be used between "<" or ">" and numbers or letters?
Should spaces be used between "<" or ">" and numbers or letters?
For symbols, what is right? P<10, P <10, P < 10 or P< 10?
For numbers, what is right? 4>2, 4> 2, 4 > 2 or 4 >2?
Is ...
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In a statistical model context, "overfitting" or "over fitting"? [closed]
I have been writing a research proposal. In a particular part of the proposal, I talk about statistical methods that will be used to avoid "overfitting." This is a statistical concept describing a ...
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"high school", "highschool", or "high-school" [closed]
In English usage, should one use high-school, high school, or highschool? (Assume American English; I understand that the Brits call it secondary school.)
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Using a space between name initials [duplicate]
Does one need to put a space between initials of the first and the second names. Which one is correct: "Sincerely, J. D." (where J. D. means John Doe) or "Sincerely, J.D."?
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Correct spelling for the abbreviation "FPS" (frames per second) [duplicate]
Well-known game journalists TotalBiscuit and Jim Sterling use [the number of frames per second] fps instead of 30FPS or 30 FPS, without an intervening space between the units and the following units (...
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Is it ever correct to write "doorlight" as one word?
Would it be proper to write "doorlight" without a space? If so, how is it different from "door light" in terms of its definition and usage?
I've mostly seen "doorlight" written to describe light ...
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Why is "a lot" written as two words even though "ahead" is written as one word?
So I know "alot" should be written "a lot" and I have seen this amusing post on the treatment: http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.co.nz/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html
However, why ...
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How is a misuse of punctuation spacing perceived by native British and American people?
I am a Frenchie and an English enthusiast. In my language, we use spaces before quotation marks, exclamation marks, and colons.
While I'm aware that this is not the case in English, there are times ...
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"Once in a while" OR "Once in awhile"? [duplicate]
1. Once in a while
OR
2. Once in awhile
Which is the correct phrase? I'm thinking it's the first one, but I'm unable to find out for certain.
"a while" vs "awhile" and ...
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What is the error called when spaces are placed incorrectly?
He went home , but he forgot his phone .He returned to get it .
^ ^ ^
These are some examples, which nowadays get autocorrected by word ...
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Chatroom or chat room? [closed]
According to Wikipedia:
The term chat room, or chatroom, is primarily used to describe any form of synchronous conferencing, occasionally even asynchronous conferencing.
Merriam-Webster lists chat ...
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Blogpost vs. blog post [duplicate]
Have I written a blogpost or a blog post?
I've seen both forms used but am not sure which is the "correct" one, if there's any.
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2
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Is there any difference between "anyone" and "any one"?
When I read books in English, I see sometimes there is a space between "any" and "one" and sometimes there is not any space. So, what is the difference between "anyone" and "any one"?
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Should there be a space in e.g./i.e. between a dot?
Should there be a space (thin space) in e.g./i.e. between a dot?
Taking in account that e.g. is shortening of exemplī grātiā, then one should use space between e.spaceg., is not it?
I believe that ...
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Why is "forward slash" not spelled "forwardslash"?
The phrase "forward slash" contains a space, while its equivalent "backslash" does not. This seems inconsistent; should "forwardslash" not be a valid word?
From Wikipedia I discovered that slash, ...
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touchscreen, touch-screen, touch screen? Merriam-Webster and Oxford disagree
I have searched but cannot find a definite answer on the correct to write "touch screen". Merriam-Webster says touch screen. Oxford says touchscreen. And random people around the internet say "touch-...
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Should Kelvin symbol have a preceding space?
I'm working on a lighting product catalogue with products from many overseas suppliers. In regards to colour temperature, some of them put a space character before Kelvin symbol, some not:
4000K, ...
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What's the difference between "every time" and "everytime"? [closed]
What's the difference between everytime and every time? I'm a little confused about them, they both seem to have same meaning. Excluding their spelling, are there any other differences between them?
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Should there be a space before and after an ampersand when writing numerals?
How should one write "one and two" in short form - 1&2 or 1 & 2? Are there any particular rules regarding this?
In context:
You may choose to do Information Technology Units [1&2/1 &...
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"However" vs. "how ever": one word or two?
I am writing a paper and stumbled upon this sentence of mine.
"The output remained consistently poor however the data was/were
analysed".
"The output remained consistently poor how ever the ...
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Do parentheses need spaces either side?
I should place parentheses after a space or without any spacing? Which one of below sentences is right?
We adopted DM (Data Mining) in this lecture.
We adopted DM(Data Mining) in this lecture.
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spacing between units in a scientific paper [closed]
Which one is the correct way of writing:
The sugar concentration was 20 g/mL or
The sugar concentration was 20 g/ mL
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"Stockmarkets" vs. "stock markets"
I am having trouble with the difference between stockmarkets and stock markets — or should it be stock-markets? In some articles it is introduced as stockmarkets, but that term is not found in ...
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"Web design" vs. "webdesign"
Suppose I want to use the word in a company's name, for example:
ABC Web Design
ABC Webdesign
Which one is correct? Should it be one word or two?
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Why add extra space between a word and punctuation (e.g. a period, question mark, etc.)? [duplicate]
I was just wondering this because of noticing a lot of people I've worked with typed this way.
Examples:
Okay, that's great .
Thanks, Stephanie .
Was there anything else ?
I was wondering if ...
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"onto" versus "on to"
Should the single word onto or the two words on to be used here?
She held onto the cushion instead of holding onto the metal frame.
She was grabbing onto the seat cushion.
There's nothing ...
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