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 by 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 traditional ellipsis points:

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

A space before and after unspaced ellipsis points:

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

For more information on the use of ellipsis points, see the following articles:

• PERIOD
• QUOTATIONS: OMISSIONS

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:

• $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, between a word and a numeral, or between two numerals:

• Jen’s bike—a brand new, custom-built Rocky Mountain—was stolen over the weekend.
• a few 90-cent stamps
• pp. 134–200

In the examples above, no spaces are used around the dashes. However, the spaced en dash is becoming a popular mark of punctuation. The reason lies in a desire to make the text look more appealing. The length of a dash varies according to the font used; and in fonts in which the em dash is relatively long, an unspaced em dash may seem unattractive.

Therefore, for all uses of the em dash listed above, it is acceptable to replace the unspaced em dash with a spaced en dash. To illustrate, the first example for the em dash above could be punctuated with spaced en dashes instead:

• Jen’s bike – a brand new, custom-built Rocky Mountain – was stolen over the weekend.

Although the unspaced em dash is preferred by most American publishers, influential Canadian typographer Robert Bringhurst strongly recommends the spaced en dash, which is the norm in a number of major British publishing houses as well.

Oblique

No space before or after an oblique that is used between individual words, letters or symbols; one space before and after the oblique when it is used between longer groups that contain internal spacing:

• n/a
• Language and Society / Langue et société

Apostrophe

No space before or after an apostrophe within a word.

• I can’t open this jar.
• the committee’s report (but the employees’ suggestions)

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

• 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.

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