spacing with periods
There should be no space before a period. There should be one space after a period.
Before the middle of the 20th century, it was a long-standing tradition for typographers to place a wider space between sentences. The extra space created a visual break that helped readers recognize the start of a new sentence. Those typing text on typewriters maintained this norm by putting two spaces after a period at the end of a sentence.
However, the modern convention is to place only one space after a period, whether the period falls within a sentence (at the end of an abbreviation) or at the end of a sentence.
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