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When using the enumerate list environment, I noticed the spacing of the last item of the list is different from other items. It seems to have double-line spacing. I tried to put \singlespacingafter\item. It does not work. Can someone please help? Below is what I have put down.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[hmarginratio=1:1,top=32mm,columnsep=20pt,hmargin=2.5cm]{geometry}
\usepackage[font=it]{caption}
\usepackage{paralist}
\usepackage{multicol}
\usepackage{setspace}
\documentclass{article}
\usepackage[hmarginratio=1:1,top=32mm,columnsep=20pt,hmargin=2.5cm]{geometry}
\usepackage[font=it]{caption}
\usepackage{paralist}
\usepackage{multicol}
\usepackage{setspace}
\begin{document}
\begin{multicols}{2}
\begin{enumerate}
{\footnotesize
\item  text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text
\item  text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text
\item  text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text
\item  text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text
\item text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text
\item text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text}  
\end{enumerate}
\end{multicols}
\end{document}
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3  
Hi xuan, welcome to the site! Could you provide a small but complete minimal example document that demonstrates the behaviour you describe? – Jake Sep 28 '12 at 15:33
Hi Jake, the document I am working on contains two columns. I am actually using the enumerate list environment to format my reference list at the end of the document. The last reference of the list has the problem stated above.Xuan – xuan Sep 28 '12 at 15:43
1  
Okay, that's already really useful information. It would be much better if you could edit your question to include the code for a small dummy document that people can compile to see the behaviour. Lots of things could be at play here, and it's quite hard to guess what exactly is going on without knowing the setup. – Jake Sep 28 '12 at 15:45
1  
Thanks for adding the example, As I guessed in my answer there is an extra {} group which you want to delete. As it is the \footnotesize ends at the } before the paragraph of the last item ends, so the baselineskip reverts to normalsize when that pargraph is set. – David Carlisle Sep 28 '12 at 16:26

3 Answers

up vote 8 down vote

enter image description here

My guess is that you did something like this:

\documentclass[twocolumn]{article}
\usepackage{lipsum}
\usepackage{setspace}
\begin{document}
\lipsum[1-6]

\doublespacing

\begin{enumerate}{\singlespacing
\item First item which stretches over more than one line by a couple of words
\item Second item which stretches over more than one line by a couple of words
\item Third item which stretches over more than one line by a couple of words}
\end{enumerate}
\end{document}

Where the problem is the spurious {} group inside the environment.

Here's an example of how it can be solved.

\documentclass{article}
\usepackage{multicol}
\begin{document}

Correct:

\begin{multicols}{2}
\footnotesize
\begin{enumerate}
\item  text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text
\item  text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text
\item  text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text
\item  text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text
\item text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text
\item text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text  
\end{enumerate}
\end{multicols}

\bigskip

Incorrect:

\begin{multicols}{2}
\begin{enumerate}
{\footnotesize
\item  text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text
\item  text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text
\item  text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text
\item  text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text
\item text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text
\item text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text text}  
\end{enumerate}
\end{multicols}

\end{document}

The \footnotesize declaration is confined by the multicols environment.

enter image description here

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Thank you.very helpful. – xuan Sep 29 '12 at 1:14
up vote 2 down vote

The answer seems very simple: If you terminate the last column either with a blank line or a \par, i.e. before the last curly bracket:

\documentclass{article}
 \usepackage[hmarginratio=1:1,top=32mm,columnsep=20pt,hmargin=2.5cm]{geometry}
\usepackage[font=it]{caption}
\usepackage{paralist}
\usepackage{multicol}
\usepackage{setspace}
\begin{document}
\begin{multicols}{2}
\begin{enumerate} {\footnotesize \item text text text text text text text text text 
text text text text text text text text text text text text text
text text text text text text text text
\item text text text text text text text text text text text text 
text text text text text text text text text text text text text
text text text text text
\item text text text text text text text text text text text text
text text text text text text text text text text text text text text
text text text text
\item texttext text text text text text text text text text text text
text text text text text text text text text text text text text
text text text text 
\item text text text text text text text text text text text text
text text text text text text text text text text text text text text
text text text text 
\item text text text text text texttext text text text text text text
text text text text text text text text text text text text text text
text text text\par} % <-- NB!

\end{enumerate} 
\end{multicols}
\end{document}

enter image description here

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Is there a reason why one would prefer to do this instead of just removing the braces, as David suggested? – Jake Sep 28 '12 at 17:23
@Jake There may be some reasons why xuan put the text in braces. But if it is not, the answer is no. – Sveinung Sep 28 '12 at 17:27
2  
I believe that the \begin{enumerate} ... \end{enumerate} already introduces a group that keeps changes in font size local. – Jake Sep 28 '12 at 17:52
up vote 2 down vote

use

\begin{enumerate}\footnotesize
\item  text  text
\item  text text    
\end{enumerate}

put the \footnotesize not into braces

share|improve this answer
This uses the spacing parameters for enumerate in normal size. – egreg Sep 28 '12 at 18:01

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