punctuation: spacing

As a general rule, in English there is no space before and one space after a punctuation mark. Exceptions follow.

Period

No space before or after a decimal period between numerals:

• 10.6 million Canadians
• $7.45

A space before and none after a decimal period not preceded by a numeral:

• a .22 calibre rifle

A space after a period following a person’s initial:

• W. S. Avis

No space before or after a period in multiple numeration:

• subsection 2.5.12

No space before or after a period that is followed by a comma or a closing quotation mark, parenthesis or bracket:

• John Fraser Jr., Ellen Putniak and George Zeller were nominated.
• (See Chapter 21.)

No space before the periods following the capital letters in the official abbreviations of provinces and territories, and no space after such periods except the last one:

• P.E.I.
• Y.T.

Ellipsis points

A space before, between and after ellipsis points:

• There was little he could say . . . so he said nothing.

Note: There is an alternative format for the ellipsis. It requires no spaces between the ellipsis points (…). However, a space is inserted before and after the ellipsis when it is used between two words (“Interviews … have”), between a comma and a word (“In fact, … we have”), or between end punctuation and the beginning of a new sentence (“fell drastically. … But”).

Question mark and exclamation mark

No space before or after a question or exclamation mark that is followed by a closing quotation mark, parenthesis or bracket:

• The delegate added, "Is it not high time we tightened our belts and dealt with the deficit?"

Comma

No space before or after a comma that is followed by a closing quotation mark:

• "Stop procrastinating," she said.
• The terms "interfacing," "conferencing" and "downsizing" are now part of the language of business.

No space before or after a comma used to separate triads in numbers (see Note 2 in 5.09 Decimal fractions):

• $12,670,233

Colon

No space before or after a colon used to express ratios or the time of day in the 24-hour system, or to separate chapter and verse, volume and page, act and scene in references to books, plays, etc.:

• a slope of 1:4
• We arrived at 15:30
• Psalms 39:5

Parentheses and brackets

One space before and none after an opening parenthesis or bracket within a sentence; no space before or after a closing parenthesis or bracket that is followed by a punctuation mark:

• Please read the enclosed booklet (Using Your Modem); it will help you take full advantage of your new communication tool.

No space before or between parentheses enclosing subsections, paragraphs, subparagraphs, etc., in citations from legislation:

• subparagraph 123(4)(b)(ii)

Em dash, en dash and hyphen

No space before or after these marks when they are inserted between words, a word and a numeral, or two numerals:

• I will support you in any way I can—even to the point of silence.
  —Eugene Forsey
• a few 90-cent stamps
• pp. 134–200

Oblique

No space before or after an oblique used between individual words, letters or symbols; one space before and after the oblique when one or both of the items it separates contain internal spacing:

• n/a
• thesaurus / collocation dictionary
• Language and Society / Langue et société

Apostrophe

No space before or after an apostrophe within a word.

One space before and none after an apostrophe used to indicate omitted figures in dates:

• the committee’s report
• the employees’ suggestions
• the class of ’79

Quotation marks

One space before and none after an opening quotation mark within a sentence; no space before or after a closing quotation mark that is followed by a punctuation mark:

• The Minister spoke of "a full and frank discussion with all parties"; a resolution to the conflict is expected within the week.