Punctuation That Has Changed in the Last 50 Years

Despite the many rules that govern its usage, punctuation is not set in stone. Over the last half-century, it has evolved to adapt to changes in publishing, technology, and communication. It still provides structure and clarity to all forms of writing, from formal legal documents to casual texting conversations. But with changes such as disappearing spaces and emotionally charged periods, it may be the most unpredictable aspect of English grammar. Here’s how punctuation has changed over the last 50 years.

Use One Space After a Period

If you learned how to type on a typewriter, you probably recall using two spaces after every sentence. This is because typewriters used monospaced fonts, meaning that every character occupied an equal amount of horizontal space. This could cause sentences to appear crowded together, so two spaces were needed to separate them clearly and improve readability.

Typewriters were phased out in the 1980s as personal computers became the standard. New digital fonts were developed as variable-width — a typeface where letters, spaces, and punctuation occupy different amounts of horizontal space — and can be read clearly with only one space between sentences. 

Today, all major style guides recommend one space after a period, though many people who were taught to type on typewriters continue the two-space habit. One of the last guides to make the switch was the American Psychological Association, which updated its guidelines in 2019. A year later, in 2020, Microsoft Word began flagging double spaces after periods as a grammatical error.

Hyphens Are Often Unnecessary

One punctuation mark has steadily vanished from pages and screens: the hyphen. In particular, many compound words and compound modifiers have gradually lost their hyphens over time. For example, “teenager” was “teen-ager” for decades, and The New Yorker is still using the hyphenated form. (For that matter, “to-day” was commonly hyphenated until the early 20th century.) Today, Merriam-Webster and other major dictionaries overwhelmingly favor the closed form. 

A major change came in 2007 when the sixth edition of the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary was launched — it included the removal of hyphens from about 16,000 compound words. “Bumble-bee,” “ice-cream,” and “pot-belly” are now hyphenless, according to Oxford’s standards. And hyphen norms are still changing today. In 2019, the AP Stylebook updated its guidance to remove hyphens between dual nationalities or ethnicities, changing “Asian-American” to “Asian American.”

This slow phasing out of hyphens reflects a preference for speed and simplicity in the digital era. Hyphens are seen as old-fashioned, and many people aren’t as confident in the rules regarding their usage. This is why common words such as “e-mail” are now more often “email.” 

Exclamation Points Are Polite

For all its advantages, digital communication presents some difficulties, such as conveying and interpreting tone. Our sentences are shorter than ever, and in the name of efficiency, we’ve sacrificed facial expressions, pauses, and vocal cues that help people understand intent in face-to-face conversations. The go-to solution for many digital communicators has become the exclamation point.

Once reserved for moments of interjection, strong emotion, or loudness, the exclamation point (or mark) instead became a beacon of friendliness during the 2010s and 2020s. A simple “Thanks!” in a text or email is well received, conveying warmth and enthusiasm.

In comparison, “Thanks.” can seem cold or abrupt, depending on the context (or lack thereof). In many short digital messages, periods, ellipses, or even no punctuation at all can unintentionally sound irritated or distant. The exclamation point has fixed that by becoming the typographical equivalent of saying something with a smile.

The Em Dash Is Back

Technology has made writing shorter, faster, and more conversational than ever before, and punctuation is adapting accordingly. One mark that is rising to the occasion is the em dash (—). Used to denote emphasis or an interruption, it can replace commas, parentheses, or colons.

The em dash is more informal than other forms of midsentence punctuation. It creates a colloquial tone that is hard to replicate with other types of punctuation, such as the semicolon, which feels stiff in comparison. This form of punctuation has been heavily influenced by online journalism and texting, mimicking spoken conversation more than printed prose.

Although it has seen a rise in popularity during the 2020s, the extended dash dates back centuries and is found in various languages, where it indicates a long pause. In printing, the name “em dash” appeared in English during the mid-19th century. The name came about because the dash is the width of a letter “m.” (Similarly, the en dash, commonly used in ranges of numbers, is the width of the letter “n.”) Typewriters complicated matters because most lacked a dedicated em dash key, leading many writers to substitute two hyphens instead. But the em dash’s recent resurgence marks a new era. 

There’s a widespread misconception that the use of an em dash is a sign that something was written by AI. That’s not a good litmus test for AI usage, however. The AI models were trained on real writing found all across the web, and many professional writers use the em dash regularly. If someone presents writing with an em dash, it doesn’t necessarily mean it comes from AI — they might just be demonstrating their punctuation chops.

Periods Aren’t Used in Texts  

Perhaps the most essential of all punctuation marks, the humble period has been ending sentences for more than 500 years. As the quintessential way to signal a full stop and start a new thought, this mark has played a consistent role in sentence structure for centuries — until the rise of cellphones and texting.

By the 2010s, the period began to carry emotional weight as texters and emailers sought to replace telltale markers of verbal tone in their digital conversations. The solution to conveying annoyance or anger became the period. Soon, “OK.” denoted anger, while “OK” (sans punctuation) appeared more relaxed or sincere. In one study of 9 million social media interactions, the appearance of a period was highly correlated with angry words and phrasing.

As a result, many people now omit periods in brief messages altogether to avoid sounding unintentionally stern. In longer writing, however, the period remains as essential as ever. Its changing reputation is a direct reflection of how language is always evolving.