sonnens@mprvaxa.UUCP (07/15/83)
"There are a lot of people who cant read; there are even more who
dont want to read." - Usenet contributor
Substitute `spell' for `read', particularly after the semicolon, and
the statement applies to this author. Although I usually find her
messages of interest, the annoying mannerism of deliberately* omitting
apostrophes is causing me to quit her long messages early. (*I'm
assuming it's not from ignorance!)
This author also doesn't follow the standard convention of separating
sentences by two spaces. This convention is:
1. `logical', since sentences are a unit `up' from words;
2. `aesthetic', since the text is less cramped and easier to read;
3. `pragmatic', since a text editor can only do operations on sentences
if they are distinguished from the rest of the text, e.g., the
vi operands `(' and `)'.
Since many people violate this convention, I've become used to the practice,
and try not to let it affect my perception of the content. I can't say the
same for all other such violations, including a boycott of apostrophes.
Usenet contributors might keep in mind that grammatical or spelling
`innovations' may detract from the message they want to present.
Dan (Nitpicker) Sonnenschein
Language Consultant
Microtel Pacific Researchtim@unc.UUCP (07/16/83)
Using nroff, it's about impossible to get proper spacing of sentences if, like me, you end each sentence at the end of a line. Nroff sticks in the two spaces for a period, possibly for an exclamation point or question mark as well, but not for a sentence that ends in a double quote mark or a close parenthesis. This is despite the fact that these are perfectly legal formations. ______________________________________ The overworked keyboard of Tim Maroney duke!unc!tim (USENET) tim.unc@udel-relay (ARPA) The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
tower@inmet.UUCP (07/18/83)
#R:mprvaxa:-24000:inmet:7300012:000:529 inmet!tower Jul 17 16:54:00 1983 The two spaces after a sentence convention is not standard. It is one developed by typewriter manufactuers. Note that printed matter, off of real printing presses, type set on linotypes or photocompositiors, does not follow this convention. I personally have always found the typewriter convention annoying- most of what I read is typeset. And as a keyboardist, the second space is just wasted effort, and disc space. Another hideousity forced on us by HS teachers. -len tower harpo!inmet!tower Cambridge, MA
ptw@vaxine.UUCP (P. Tucker Withington) (07/18/83)
I believe the convention of two spaces to separate sentences (purportedly foisted on us by typewriter manufacturers) is a standard in most secretarial handbooks. I am led to believe it is an attempt to "emulate" the use of an em-quad to break sentences in printing (vs. the en-quad between words). Yes, there is good reason to demarcate this higher-level linguistic unit and to the best of my knowledge, it has been done since printing was invented. Look *closely* at your typeset material and you will see a difference. --Tucker (ptw@vaxine.UUCP)
rh@mit-eddie.UUCP (Randy Haskins) (07/18/83)
#flame-on
{
Why not let's define a new character that is only used for ending
sentences (and NEVER for anything else), and that way, you can
just use it, and you won't even have to have even one space
after it. Think of all the disk space saved!!!!! Also, we could
define another one for newline, since it currently takes two characters.
}
#flame-off
I think that two spaces makes it easier to read. The reason that
newspapers and magazines don't do it is because they want to fit
as much advertising in as possible, so they don't "waste" space.
--
Randwulf (Randy Haskins)
genrad!mit-eddie!rh
or...
rh@mit-ee (via mit-mc)barmar@mit-eddie.UUCP (Barry Margolin) (07/19/83)
I asked a friend who works in the computer typesetting industry whether typesetters add extra space at the end of a sentence. He said that they don't, but that the period character generally has extra whitespace on the right side. My guess is that this is because it is the smallest of the sentence-ending characters, so it needs some extra help, while question-mark and exclamation-point do fine with just a word-space. Personal opinion: I have a hard time reading fixed-width text if there is no extra space at the end of the sentence. It is probably just due to having used computer text-editing for so long, and having gotten used to the convention. -- Barry Margolin ARPA: barmar@MIT-Multics UUCP: ..!genrad!mit-eddie!barmar
dce@tekecs.UUCP (David Elliott) (07/21/83)
May I ask why articles about how many spaces to put between sentences have the title "Linguistic Violations"? How does written language relate to "linguistics"? I don't see the connection. David