Spaces after full stops. Anyone as old as me?

Kittylester I was taught to put two spaces after a full stop in typing lessons at school, and still follow that rule, but when computers took over at work and managers started to do some, or all of their own typing, they would sometimes not even put one space.

Taught not thought!

I thought typing in an FE college and at the time you were marked down in RSA typing exams if you didn’t leave 2 spaces after a full stop. However with computers and justified text 2 spaces can look odd now - though I still do it.

Nice to know Rees Mogg has his priorities right....

I was taught to put 2 spaces after a full stop and still do. Personally, I'm more concerned about him demanding imperial measurements. Do people under 50 know how to use them, I struggle with them now and I'm 70. Perhaps he wants us to go back to £SD too.

I was taught in the 60s to put two spaces after a full stop and still do. In my last job a memo was sent out to say only one space must be used after a full stop. I found it really difficult to remember and have reverted back now I’ve retired.

two spaces after a full stop and a colon - one space after everything else. still do it.
but i've stopped doing capital letters except in business correspondence - so much easier.
taught typewriting and shorthand in the 60s - still use shorthand today.

Always two spaces after a full stop. I am appalled at some of the grammar I have received in letters. It seems some schools are still teaching two spaces. I asked my DGD, aged 7. She said they are taught to use two spaces after a full stop and added commas before a subordinate conjunction. I don't think I even knew what that was at 7.

Gosh! Nver learned to type. Never knew this.

I agree, 3 spaces at end of sentence...

so, and , then , but , because, no -no`s for starting a sentence

so when did this f word become popular,, not in this thread, I agree, but that is my pet rant!

and when should we use, "who" or " whom"

the latter is so.... victorian,,,

I was taught typing in 1974, 2 spaces after full stop. It was dropped when we stopped using typewriters.

Yes I remember and indenting 5 spaces for a new paragraph

Yes, JackyB, that was the ‘new’ way.

My mum, a shorthand and typing teacher, taught me to type in the sixties, and it was definitely two spaces after a full stop then.

Also we learned not to use full stops and commas in addresses and after "Dear Sir" but we were aware that this was the "new" way of doing things.

Have just notice that there is only one space after my full stops in that previous post. Probably because I am typing with my index fingers on the screen of my tablet. My thumbs are programmed to do two spaces but not my fingers!

My mother learned to type in thee 1930s and always did 3 spaces after a full stop. I learned in the 1970s and it had reduced to 2 spaces by then. I couldn't do it any other way - as someone said - it's like breathing.

Also my mother leaned Greggs shorthand (which she could still read and write until recently) and I learned Pitmans.

Did you know that the Vogons wrote in Pitmans in the Martin Freeman film version of "The Hitchhikers Guide"?

In primary school, we were taught that "and, so, but and because are joining words" as you say, and that therefore should not be used to start a sentence. It was a "rule" that was brought in to help small people structure their sentences I believe.

Later I was taught that, in order not to fragment sentences, you are better not using subordinating conjunctions. 'And', 'but', and conjunctions such as 'or' do not subordinate the clauses but words such as 'because' fairly obviously subordinate the clause they refer to. For all I know, those whose degree was English may have learnt yet other rules.

All in all, I wouldn't worry about it unless you are writing something official. Write as you want to write; lots of brilliant authors do exactly that. Also, you will find that for every opinion there will be a dozen others. It is clarity that is needed. My bugbear is people not using paragraphs as they help the speed of my reading. But in truth, the world will not come to an end because they don't and they may have something fascinating to say.

I'd forgotten indenting. I don't do that now!

Ariadne:said once that we are grown up to make our own rules now and we can decide to start sentences with 'And'. I do it quite a lot now.

Hi, Ariadne, if you are around.

I can still hear my English teacher saying about the use of commas

“When in doubt, leave it out”.

Nothing to do with OP really but.....

*alima "and", "so" and "but" are conjunctions (ie joining words), so you shouldn't start a sentence with one. I think. .

Same for me Coolgran65 - shorthand so useful out of the office especially for passwords for different accounts etc.

Learned my shorthand and typing in the mid sixties. Two spaces after a full stop, everything else one space.
Double spacing between paras.
Indent 5 spaces at new para.

Still use my shorthand when making notes on a telephone call. Also, if I'm doing a handwritten letter on good paper I do a rough draft first in shorthand.

Have never done a shorthand and typing course so consequently not heard of the three spaces thingy. Have always thought it is not done to start a sentence with “and” though. Is that ok now then? Along with “but” and “so”.

Two spaces after a full stop. One space after a comma, colon or semi-colon.

Two spaces after a full stop from secretarial college in the early 1960s. Still do it for letters though not for texts.