Hi First name / friend,

 

 

This is a brand-new email series designed to help you improve your writing, one sassy tip at a time.

 

Because, as you know, I'm something of a linguistic snob. I consider it my civic duty to inform others of their grammatical errors… with a wink and a smile! 😉

 

Once a week, I'll be popping into your inbox with a helpful writing-related hint.

 

I hope you enjoy The Weekly Wink. Feel free to email me back and let me know what you think (or suggest a topic for me to feature) — I'm all ears!

 

Now, for your first wink-worthy writing tip… 

Many of us were taught in school to put two spaces between sentences when typing a paper.

 

But, unless you are old and learned how to write on a typewriter, you never should've needed to do this.

 

The practice of double-spacing between sentences dates back to the mid-1900s, when manual typewriters used monospaced type that made sentences difficult to decipher.

 

Now that we use proportional fonts, double-spacing between sentences is not only unnecessary, it's also obnoxious.

 

I don't see people double-space very often anymore, but when I do, it's like nails on a chalkboard. *Stares pointedly at her husband, who cannot seem to kick this habit.*

 

Bottom line: Never put two spaces between sentences. It makes your writing look choppy, archaic, and academic (in a “trying-to-hit-2,000-words” way, not a “smart-doctorate-student” way). 

 

With a wink,

Sarah 😘