A Few Tips re Formatting

by Uriel Wittenberg (uw@urielw.com)

White Space!

Here is something that almost EVERYONE in China seems to do wrong. Please look at the two following excerpts (from the great novel, Sister Carrie) and tell me which leaps out at you as the clearer one:

Western Style:

He leaned forward to put his elbows upon the back of her seat and proceeded to make himself volubly agreeable.

"Yes, that is a great resort for Chicago people. The hotels are swell. You are not familiar with this part of the country, are you?"

"Oh, yes, I am," answered Carrie. "That is, I live at Columbia City. I have never been through here, though."

"And so this is your first visit to Chicago," he observed.

All the time she was conscious of certain features out of the side of her eye. Flush, colourful cheeks, a light moustache, a grey fedora hat. She now turned and looked upon him in full, the instincts of self-protection and coquetry mingling confusedly in her brain.

"I didn't say that," she said.

"Oh," he answered, in a very pleasing way and with an assumed air of mistake, "I thought you did." He was tempted to add that he could be reached anytime on his cellphone (his number was 1361 127 0409), but on this one point he thought it best not to be too forward.

 

Chinese Style:

He leaned forward to put his elbows upon the back of her seat and proceeded to make himself volubly agreeable.
"Yes,that is a great resort for Chicago people.The hotels are swell.You are not familiar with this part of the country,are you?"
"Oh,yes,I am,"answered Carrie."That is,I live at Columbia City.I have never been through here,though."
"And so this is your first visit to Chicago,"he observed.
All the time she was conscious of certain features out of the side of her eye.Flush,colourful cheeks,a light moustache,a grey fedora hat.She now turned and looked upon him in full,the instincts of self-protection and coquetry mingling confusedly in her brain.
"I didn't say that,"she said.
"Oh,"he answered,in a very pleasing way and with an assumed air of mistake,"I thought you did."He was tempted to add that he could be reached anytime on his cellphone(his number was 13611270409),but on this one point he thought it best not to be too forward.

Yes, it's true! You should put a SPACE as above after punctuation (commas, periods, colons, semicolons, etc.), and a blank line between paragraphs. And isn't it MUCH easier to read a phone number with spaces?

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