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As a general rule, in English there is no space before and one space after a punctuation mark. Exceptions follow.
No space before or after a decimal period between numerals:
A space before and none after a decimal period not preceded by a numeral:
A space after a period following a person’s initial:
No space before or after a period in multiple numeration:
No space before or after a period when followed by a comma or a closing quotation mark, parenthesis or bracket:
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:
A space before, between and after ellipsis points:
See also 7.05 Ellipsis points and 8.09 Omissions.
No space before or after a question or exclamation mark when followed by a closing quotation mark, parenthesis or bracket:
No space before or after a comma when followed by a closing quotation mark:
No space before or after a comma used to separate triads in numbers (see Note 2 in 5.09 Decimal fractions):
No space before or after a colon when used to express ratios or the time of day using the 24-hour clock, or to separate chapter and verse, volume and page, act and scene in references to books, plays, etc.:
One space before and none after an opening parenthesis or bracket within a sentence; no space before or after a closing parenthesis or bracket when followed by a punctuation mark:
No space before or between parentheses enclosing subsections, paragraphs, subparagraphs, etc., in citations from legislation:
No space before or after these marks when they are inserted between words, a word and a numeral, or two numerals:
No space before or after an oblique when used between individual words, letters or symbols; one space before and after the oblique when used between longer groups which contain internal spacing:
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:
One space before and none after an opening quotation mark within a sentence; no space before or after a closing quotation mark when followed by a punctuation mark:
If the translated (English) title appears on the title page of a publication in another language, it follows the primary title in the bibliographic entry and is italicized, with a period separating the two elements:
If you yourself must provide a translation, insert the English version of the title (no italics) in brackets after the primary title, capitalize the initial word, and place a period after the closing bracket:
For a publication in which French and English titles are given, both languages should be included:
Note the space on each side of the oblique.
The publisher’s name should not be translated, but for the benefit of the unilingual reader the place of publication may be:
When no translation is given on the title page, check whether translations of the work are already on record at the National Library of Canada, the Canada Institute for Scientific and Technical Information (CISTI) or elsewhere before translating the primary title. Accuracy of translation is essential.
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