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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/14455
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

I have come across examples supporting both spaced as well as non-spaced examples and that's what confuses me. I want to understand what the standard practice is as endorsed by any of the major style guides. For example, consider the following examples:

> A. B. Smith (Why is there a space?)
> 
> U.S.A (Why no space? And why no period after the "A"?)
> 
> P.S. (Why no space?)

I understand there already exists a similar question but since the answers on that one specifically deal with academic citations and Latin phrases, it doesn't help me. I am comfortable with Latin phrases, such as e.g., i.e., etc. not having spaces (P.S. being an exception because I still somehow see it as a regular abbreviation because it's capitalized, maybe? I don't know). It's the English acronyms that I find confusing... especially cases like U.S.A where even a period (the last one) is sometimes mysteriously omitted!

Original score: 3