Punctuation: Exceptions to standard spacing rules

On this page

• General information
• Period
• Ellipses Points
• Question mark and exclamation mark
• Comma
• Colon
• Parentheses and brackets
• Em dash, en dash and hyphen
• Oblique
• Apostrophe
• Quotation marks
• Additional information

General information

As a general rule, there’s no space before and one space after a punctuation mark. However, there are many cases where this rule doesn’t apply. This writing tip outlines these exceptions.

Period

No space before or after a decimal period between numerals:

• 10.6 million Canadians
• $7.45

One space before and no space after a decimal period not preceded by a numeral:

• a .22 calibre rifle

No space before or after a period in multiple numeration:

• subsection 2.5.12

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

• Tobias Jesso Jr., Angèle Dubeau and Charlotte Day Wilson have all received several Juno nominations.
• (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

One space before, between and after each period in the ellipsis:

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

Note: There’s an alternative format for the ellipsis. The unspaced ellipsis 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 mark or exclamation mark that’s followed by a closing quotation mark, parenthesis or bracket:

• The delegate added, “Is it not high time we discussed the deficit?”
• They said they would arrive shortly (and I really hope they do!).

Comma

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

• “Stop procrastinating,” she said.
• The terms synergy, scalability and agility are often heard in the business world.

No space before or after a comma used to separate triads in numbers:

• $12,670,233

Colon

No space before or after a colon used to express ratios:

• a slope of 1:4

No space before or after a colon used to express the time of day in the 24-hour system:

• We arrived at 15:30.

No space before or after a colon used to separate chapter and verse, volume and page, act and scene in references to books, plays, etc.:

• Psalms 39:5
• History of Upper Canada, II:791
• Romeo and Juliet, I:i

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’re inserted between words, before an attribution, between two numerals or between a numeral and a word:

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

One space before and after the dash in a spaced en dash:

• Don’t worry – we’re all here to help.

Oblique

No space before or after an oblique used between individual words, letters or symbols:

• n/a
• blue/black ink

One space before and after the oblique when one or both of the items it separates contain internal spacing:

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

One space before and after the oblique when lines of poetry are quoted within a sentence:

• In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Romeo says, “But, soft! what light through yonder window breaks? / It is the east, and Juliet is the sun.”

Apostrophe

No space before or after an apostrophe within a word.

• the committee’s report

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

• the class of ’99

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’s 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.

Additional information

• Punctuation: Standard spacing in English and French