What I did, when in the right-side box, was to select the regular text mode from the text button menu on the math panel, then use ctrl-space to space the words.
Selecting "normal text mode" from the math panel is the same as Ctrl-M while in the math mode. In either case, you don't need to do a Ctrl-space to get a regular space when you're in this normal-text-within-math-mode, just hit the space bar and the usual space will show up...
nirmal
