Help me do the comma

[Pyrrho]

But back on topic: is there an official authority on English or AE grammar where one would find these things?

I don't think there is a single source that has some special authority that dictates what English speakers must or should do.  Oxford produces one of the better dictionaries, and very likely Oxford is a very reliable source for grammar, particularly of British English, though they are interested in "world English" as well.

[One Above All]

Two spaces?! Is that something people do?

It's something I was trained to do when I learned to type in the early 1980's.  Two spaces after the end of any sentence.

Yeah, it's wrong.  I still do it.  Hard habit to break.

The issue (that is, the cause of the perpetuation of double spacing) is people who think and insist it's correct, even when shown proof of the contrary, and teach their (or worse, someone else's) children to type like that.

[Pyrrho]

But back on topic: is there an official authority on English or AE grammar where one would find these things?

http://www.mla.org
http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/home.html

Incidentally, for those who are curious, putting two spaces after any kind of punctuation is wrong, according to those two sources, among many, many others.

Fine links, but you are wrong in your statement:

http://www.mla.org/style/style_faq/mlastyle_spaces

Double spaces after a period (or other sentence-ending punctuation) is traditional, and the way I normally type.


As for a site like this one, the writing is informal, and typographical errors are common.  So someone having a double space somewhere that it does not belong does not mean much, unless there is some consistency to it.

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Two spaces?! Is that something people do?

It's something I was trained to do when I learned to type in the early 1980's.  Two spaces after the end of any sentence.

Yeah, it's wrong.  I still do it.  Hard habit to break.

You are wrong; it isn't wrong to have two spaces between sentences.  See:

http://www.mla.org/style/style_faq/mlastyle_spaces

So there is no need for you to change the way you type your sentences.

[Angrboda]

Two spaces?! Is that something people do?

It's something I was trained to do when I learned to type in the early 1980's.  Two spaces after the end of any sentence.
Yeah, it's wrong.  I still do it.  Hard habit to break.

Ditto. And I don't bother to attempt to do it right.

[One Above All]

Fine links, but you are wrong in your statement:

http://www.mla.org/style/style_faq/mlastyle_spaces

Double spaces after a period (or other sentence-ending punctuation) is traditional, and the way I normally type.

Tradition is irrelevant, but you should look for the reason behind the tradition. Double spacing was used with uneven font types to make them look more uniform. That is, to make it look like they only had one space between sentences. Also, this:
http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/qand...orTwo.html

[Pyrrho]

Fine links, but you are wrong in your statement:

http://www.mla.org/style/style_faq/mlastyle_spaces

Double spaces after a period (or other sentence-ending punctuation) is traditional, and the way I normally type.

Tradition is irrelevant, but you should look for the reason behind the tradition. Double spacing was used with uneven font types to make them look more uniform. That is, to make it look like they only had one space between sentences. Also, this:
http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/qand...orTwo.html

From your link:

Q. Help. How many spaces do you leave after a colon in a manuscript?

A. One space after a colon. There is a traditional American typing practice, favored by some, of leaving two spaces after colons and periods. This practice is discouraged by the University of Chicago Press, especially for formally published works and the manuscripts from which they are published.


Q. Please help. I have confusion regarding the correct spacing after periods and other closing punctuation. My company uses the font Arial and consistently uses a flush-left margin. We are an engineering company. My job consists in preparing documents and letters for customers. Everything I read in manuals and from technical writers directs me to use one space after periods. I find that it works very well, except occasionally, when an extra space helps readability. Knowledgeable engineers have embraced the one space use as being consistent with the font design and automation of reports. Others are unpleased with the one space, they think they have difficulty reading. (I, too, had an adjustment period which I forced myself to endure until it became automatic to read easily.) We are preparing technical information. What do you think? Thanks for your wonderful support and especially the quick answers. I greatly appreciate your service.

A. Published work these days rarely features two spaces after a period. In the era when type was set by hand, it was common to use extra space (sometimes quite a bit of it) after periods, a practice that continued into the first half of the twentieth century. And many people were taught to use that extra space in typing class. But introducing two spaces after a sentence-ending period—and only after those periods—causes problems. Absolute consistency is easy to monitor when double spaces are never allowed, but less easy when some spaces after periods are double and others single (such as those at the ends of abbreviations and initialisms in running text). Since there is no proof that an extra space actually improves readability—as your comment suggests, it’s probably just a matter of familiarity—CMOS follows the industry standard of one space after a period.

http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/qand...orTwo.html

Your source doesn't say that it is wrong to have two spaces.  They merely favor one space.  No one said one space was wrong. But it is wrong to say that two spaces is always wrong.  And your source is good enough that they don't claim what you seem to imagine that they claim. 


In other words, you are wrong to tell people that using two spaces in such situations is wrong.  It is not wrong, and neither the CMS nor the MLA say it is wrong, because they are decent sources.


For those who need it, here is the MLA on this:

http://www.mla.org/style/style_faq/mlastyle_spaces

[Alex K]

It is not flattery.  We know you are really a native speaker of English, and are just pretending to be German.  Just like your picture; Peter Sellers was just pretending to be a German, and was really English.  That is one of the subtle clues you have provided for us.  So, what part of England are you from?

If I were from England, which I'm not, I'd be from the southwest as well, maybe Dorset. That clashes with my love for Islay whisky... But what sane Englishman (apart from Peter Sellers) would impersonate a German on the internet for lulz? That's preposterous!

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Thanks for all the references everyone, those are very interesting!

[Joods]

Screw it.  Just don't use commas.  It won't matter unless it's something formal -- people will mentally insert the commas as necessary.  When in doubt, do without.

Let's eat, grandma!
Let's eat grandma!

Ummm.....

Hey...that's my line!

[Ben Davis]

Ben Davis,
do I have to do both 1.) and 2.) in order to be consistent? In my above sentence, putting them before and after the "and" as in
"has a nice flow to it, and, more importantly, that ..."
looks excessive to me

Consistency would be regularly applying each rule, not applying both rules in concert. In context of your sentence, I would omit the comma before the 'and' for two reasons:

1. the 'and' is being used as a standard conjunction rather than at the end of a list
2. it would make the sentence read as if 'and' is a subordinate clause when in reality, it's the 'more importantly' which is subordinate

So you score points from me on your usage and I'll give you extra credit if you can spot the Oxford Comma that I omitted from bullet 2.  

[pocaracas]

I use commas mostly as I'd use them in Portuguese...
Although, I'm aware that, in english, you use commas when enumerating things, while we portuguese don't do that.... the 'and' is enough.
Apart from that, I just tend to put commas everywhere they seem appropriate.

Also, in portuguese, it is common to have long sentences. These require a lot of commas to help separate the bits and pieces. In english, smaller sentences are encouraged, leading you to resort to the dot more. I guess that's why I use a lot of ellipsis... I could have written this in just one long sentence which you guys would find tiring, but I'd be completely comfortable with.

Rulez: NEVER put a comma between the noun and the verb parts of a sentence. e.g.: The world, is going crazy.
Always put a comma before a 'but' or a 'because'. (this one isn't really followed to the letter in english)
Use them to separate parts of the sentence which you could attach somewhere else in the sentence: e.g.: "As I was walking down the street, a car honked at me" <=> "A car honked at me as I was walking down the street"
Use commas to separate small descriptive bits pertaining to temporal or positional details. e.g., "Yesterday, I had cake.", "In Portugal, the weather is nice."