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In written English (mainly online) I often come across sentences ending with a question or an exclamation mark with a space before it. Is it always just an error or a typo? Or there are cases when it is a correct English, for example after closing parentheses or some other punctuation marks?

RegDwigнt
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rem
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    It's a common typo by French (because in French, there is a white space before a question/exclamation mark) and Indians (because I have no idea why and would like to know myself). In English, there is traditionally no white space. In online context, it would be especially perilous, because most people don't know about   and/or have no control over the actual HTML source code, and you don't want to constantly end up with question/exclamation marks being printed on the next line. – RegDwigнt Nov 02 '10 at 15:52
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      is your friend when you're doing French translation. – OneProton Nov 02 '10 at 16:19
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    As a special case, please do put a space before the punctuation when ending a sentence with a hyperlink or similar so it will be easier to select, and so automatic hyperlink creation won't gobble it. Instead of "Try asking on english.stackexchange.com." (results in a broken link), say "Try asking on english.stackexchange.com ." I do this as a courtesy to others, even if it's breaking the rules a bit. – Joey Adams Jun 24 '11 at 23:38
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    @JoeyAdams: Except on Stack Exchange, where auto-linking works correctly. – Mechanical snail Oct 02 '12 at 07:09
  • @RegDwighт - I think your comment is a more satisfactory answer than the actual answers below -- shame you didn't submit it as an answer! – Neil Coffey Nov 27 '12 at 21:34
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    @Joey Adams: Would that be a hyperspace? – Edwin Ashworth Nov 27 '12 at 22:07
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    @Reg, in most Indian schools, English grammar is taught from a book that was originally authored by two Englishmen: PC Wren and H Martin. The earlier editions of the book (including the one that I own) has a space before the following punctuation marks are used: question mark, exclamation mark, dash (em dash), colon and semi-colon. Also, one can observe two spaces after a full-stop (or a "period" as the Americans call it). My guess is that such practice is a relic of the typewriter era. The new editions of "Wren & Martin Grammar Book" (as it is known in India) appear not to have such spaces. –  Jan 25 '13 at 10:07
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    @AnIndianGuy excellent. Very useful information, I always wondered that. Thank you so much for sharing. – RegDwigнt Jan 25 '13 at 10:34
  • @AnIndianGuy: You'd have been struggling even more to fit all your excellent comment in if you'd stuck with the earlier editions! (Assuming that that's not an aposiopesis as you have a sudden reverie about the excellencies of Hyderabad.) – Edwin Ashworth Jan 25 '13 at 10:55
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    It seems to be fairly common in older textbooks in English to space punctuation somewhat more liberally than is now the norm. My copy of John Strachan’s Old-Irish Paradigms (archive.org PDF, 6.2 MB) from 1929 is set with what looks like a regular no-breaking space before the same punctuation marks our seemingly now defunct Indian friend mentions, a thin space around quotes, and what looks like an em space following them. I always find it rather cumbersome to read because of this. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Nov 21 '13 at 00:01
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    I've started seeing instances where people have used Fullwidth Unicode characters with the space in them, e.g. exclamation mark ("！") or question mark ("？"). Very odd. – Wai Ha Lee Dec 26 '15 at 12:09
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    It used to be the practice for typesetters to insert a thin space before punctuation. I see it a lot before colon and semicolon in early C19 printing. Note that a lead-type thin space is very thin: 1/8 of an em or so. – user207421 Aug 29 '16 at 00:57
  • https://twitter.com/babyIaur/status/1255688564576141318?s=20 – taylor swift May 01 '20 at 01:38
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    @RegDwigнt I am an Indian and I add space before Question mark, Exclamation mark and colon, but not before semicolon, dot, comma etc. because they look good like that, and I didn't knew it was considered an error. I just wanted to separate the alphabets from special characters. And I think most schools in India teaches it like that. – Rahul Feb 13 '21 at 13:56

6 Answers6

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In English, it is always an error. There should be no space between a sentence and its ending punctuation, whether that's a period, a question mark, or an exclamation mark. There should also be no space before a colon, semicolon, or comma. The only ending punctuation mark that sometimes needs to be preceded by a space is a dash.

I see this error most often with people who never really learned to type. In handwriting, spacing is more, um, negotiable and subject to interpretation.

Marthaª
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  • Add to that a double space after a paragraph. – OneProton Nov 02 '10 at 16:20
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    @Atømix, the double space is a typographical convention, of doubtful utility these days. But in any case, it's irrelevant to this question. – Marthaª Nov 02 '10 at 16:25
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    It's a little bit sweeping to say that it is "always" an error. It's arguable an error IF the writer wanted to adopt the most common convention in English, which is to not put the space. And it's an error if their editor/style guide explicitly instructed them to do so and they are compelled to follow that editor/style guide. But otherwise if a writer actively decides they want to adopt the French convention of putting the space, although unusual, they're presumably free to do so. – Neil Coffey Nov 27 '12 at 21:32
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    @NeilCoffey, show me a single reputable modern English style guide that allows a space before a period. I don't think you can find one. French usage is totally irrelevant: in English, you don't put a space before a period. Ever. – Marthaª Nov 28 '12 at 16:42
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    I suspect you are right-- there is probably no English style guide in the universe that advocates using this convention. But so what? There's no intrinsic compulsion to follow any style guide. Or put another way, if a style guide tells you to do something, it's only an "error" not to adhere to what it says if you were deliberately attempting to adhere to that style guide. – Neil Coffey Nov 28 '12 at 18:21
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    @NeilCoffey, there's no law or compulsion that says you can't use the word "horse" to mean what other people call "coffee". But it would still be an error of English usage to do that. – The Photon Aug 10 '13 at 17:32
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    @ThePhoton - On the other hand, the usage you mention would clearly be non-standard to the point of impairing comprehension, whereas I would posit that sticking a space (or not) before an exclamation is simply a typographical preference that probably has little effect on comprehension! – Neil Coffey Aug 11 '13 at 13:21
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    An exception: Is it ever correct to have a space before a question mark, like this ? Correcting the 'error' renders the question unintelligible. – Wayfaring Stranger Nov 20 '13 at 14:45
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    @WayfaringStranger, that's a bit, uh, contrived. – Marthaª Nov 20 '13 at 15:18
  • @Marthaª Admitted. – Wayfaring Stranger Nov 20 '13 at 17:53
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    ( is often preceded by a space. –  Nov 20 '13 at 22:48
  • @ymar: good catch, adding it. – Marthaª Nov 20 '13 at 23:42
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    Is this answer also applicable/true for the ellipsis punctuation ("...")? – Chuim Mar 16 '15 at 18:03
  • To be more specific I was referring to its end-of-sentence usage, to represent an unfinished thought or a leading statement (not the word omission case). – Chuim Mar 16 '15 at 18:09
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    @Chuim: strictly speaking, if you end a sentence with an ellipsis, you should include the ending period as well, i.e. you'll have a series of four dots, not three; and the "no space before ending punctuation" rule applies to that fourth dot, not the ellipsis itself. As far as putting spaces before or after ellipses, it's mostly a question of style; I wouldn't include spaces, but I'm sure there are style guides that allow for them. – Marthaª Mar 16 '15 at 19:32
  • The goal is always clarity. – Dan Jan 03 '16 at 00:13
  • '[S]trictly speaking' in your last comment must mean 'according to certain style guides', Martha, as there is no consensus. But one or two references validating the main point of the answer are surely better added to give confidence to the many who have endorsed it. – Edwin Ashworth Oct 25 '21 at 13:22
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People have mentioned in the comments that, yes, in the past, a small (non-breaking) space was inserted before an ! and a ? These must never start a new line. The space is also a small space, very clearly much more than the space between letters of a word, but much less than a sentence-ending space.

See, for example, this:

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And:

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From an 1899 edition of Ralph T. H. Griffith's The Texts of The White Yajurveda. (Link)

This is by no means current practice, as Marthaª's answer explains and I suppose the answer to the question 'is it ever correct ...' is no. But was it ever correct? Yes, very much so.

Community
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Au101
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The Chicago Manual of Style recommends a nonbreakable space before and after an ellipsis when the intention is to trail off a sentence.

13.52 Ellipses with other punctuation. Placement of the other punctuation depends on whether the omission precedes or follows the mark; when the omission precedes it, a nonbreakable space should be used between the ellipsis and the mark of punctuation to prevent the mark from continuing over to the beginning of a new line.

This is a specific instance, and Chicago is one of two accepted style guides for (most) American publishing.

"You stop right there! When I get a hold of you, I'll ... !"

"Do you want to, you know ... ?"

There is so much to love about fudge ... . [I feel the ellipsis before a period is the weakest example because it's arguable whether the ellipsis should come before or after the period, if at all.]

A nonbreakable space is still a space.

herisson
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Stu W
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    Interesting. Spacing around ellipses seems to be quite variable between different style guides, if the answers to the following question (and linked questions) are to be believed: Space before three dots? Apparently Robert Bringhurt advises against using spacing when the ellipsis is followed by another punctuation mark: Spaces for Ellipses – herisson Jun 23 '16 at 05:07
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    I believe it to be a typesetting issue and thus highly variable. However, the US is increasingly following Chicago. Certainly one would never be wrong adhering to their guidelines (within the US). – Stu W Jun 23 '16 at 05:14
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When you end a sentence with a link

In modern usage, especially online, one time where it is appropriate to put a space is when you are ending the sentence with a link https://ux.stackexchange.com/questions/15226/should-a-sentence-ending-with-a-url-terminate-with-a-period .

Stack Exchange's parser is pretty good (because of how you use Markup) but on many other sites, especially where the text editor automatically linkifies for you put a space in can be the difference between your link working or not.

This is a minor exception though, and really you should probably restructure your sentence so it doesn't end in a link, leaving @Marthaa with the more correct answer.

aslum
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In many cases, it is essential for readability to put a space before an exclamation mark! Not there but here's an example: lol ! Due to the font, the space is in fact not needed there, but many fonts leave an L looking too much like an ! to be readable.

JFC
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The best, perhaps only, reason for one space between end of sentence and its punctuation is for the !, following upright fonts resembling too closely the ! itself. Only other occurrence would be typographical error. Readability trumps convention.

Written language convention mutates. Consider Webster. Allow brief, supporting narrative: I'm a journalist and an English teacher who now abides my students using ONE space between manuscript sentences--not the conventional, PROPER, two. I don't expect generations born into texting, IMs, emails, all things digital, to embrace tradition. With discussion and exposure, on-line users might accept an intentional, rare space before the !. Now, I'll go read "tips on writing great answers." No, we don't always read manuals before assembly . . . .

margie lawlor
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