use cases for <space>

The sources of TCP texts include forms that deliberately leave a space to be filled in by somebody,  as in A83003 (Wing E1791), where the phrase “Aſſeſſors and Collectors of” is followed by a space to let somebody write down what they were assessing or collecting.  In this particular TCP transcription the space is represented by a <gap> element. That doesn’t seem right.  There is no lacuna there; it is, in Wallace Stevens’ lovely phrase a “nothing that is.”

Would <space> be the appropriate element for representing this?  It’s from the transcription module, which deals with the physical aspects of documentary edition, which is not what the TCP texts are about. And the description of the <space> element in the Guidelines does not include this, although I’d think of this as a very obvious use case that it might good to have mentioned there, if <space> is thought of as the right solution for this sort of thing.

And what about a name like “B     “, not uncommon in satirical texts?