14. Spaces

  • In traditional typesetting, little extra space is added to periods (. ! ?) which end sentences and TeX also follows this custom.

  • TeX assumes that every period not following an upper case letter ends a sentence.

  • To denote end of sentence after a upper case letter use the command \@ before the period.

  • If a period following a lowercase letter does not end a sentence use \ immediately after the period.

Examples

Upper Case Ending a Sentence:


Carrots contain Vitamin A\@.  They are good.\\
Carrots contain Vitamin A.  They are good.
Check for the space between the two sentences. Formatting with \@ prior to the dot (which is following a capital letter) looks good.

Upper Case Not-ending a Sentence:


The numbers 1, 2, 3, etc.\ are called natural numbers.\\
The numbers 1, 2, 3, etc. are called natural numbers.


Check for the space after etc. Formatting with \ after the dot (which is following a small letter, but not ending the sentence)looks good.