diff --git a/tests/t1600-append.sh b/tests/t1600-append.sh
index 885074e..57ee99e 100755
--- a/tests/t1600-append.sh
+++ b/tests/t1600-append.sh
@@ -44,4 +44,33 @@ test_todo_session 'append error' << EOF
 10: No such task.
 EOF
 
+cat > todo.txt <<EOF
+notice the daisies
+EOF
+test_todo_session 'append of current sentence' <<EOF
+>>> todo.sh append 1 ", lilies and roses"
+1: notice the daisies, lilies and roses
+
+>>> todo.sh append 1 "; see the wasps"
+1: notice the daisies, lilies and roses; see the wasps
+
+>>> todo.sh append 1 "& bees"
+1: notice the daisies, lilies and roses; see the wasps & bees
+EOF
+
+cp todo.cfg special-delimiters.cfg
+cat >> special-delimiters.cfg <<EOF
+export SENTENCE_DELIMITERS='*,.:;&'
+EOF
+test_todo_session 'append of current sentence SENTENCE_DELIMITERS' <<EOF
+>>> todo.sh -d special-delimiters.cfg append 1 "&beans"
+1: notice the daisies, lilies and roses; see the wasps & bees&beans
+
+>>> todo.sh -d special-delimiters.cfg append 1 "%foo"
+1: notice the daisies, lilies and roses; see the wasps & bees&beans %foo
+
+>>> todo.sh -d special-delimiters.cfg append 1 "*2"
+1: notice the daisies, lilies and roses; see the wasps & bees&beans %foo*2
+EOF
+
 test_done
diff --git a/todo.sh b/todo.sh
index 8b30d10..20dc20e 100755
--- a/todo.sh
+++ b/todo.sh
@@ -469,6 +469,12 @@ export PRI_B=$GREEN         # color for B priority
 export PRI_C=$LIGHT_BLUE    # color for C priority
 export PRI_X=$WHITE         # color for rest of them
 
+# Default sentence delimiters for todo.sh append.
+# If the text to be appended to the task begins with one of these characters, no
+# whitespace is inserted in between. This makes appending to an enumeration
+# (todo.sh add 42 ", foo") syntactically correct.
+export SENTENCE_DELIMITERS=',.:;'
+
 [ -e "$TODOTXT_CFG_FILE" ] || {
     CFG_FILE_ALT="$HOME/todo.cfg"
 
@@ -746,9 +752,13 @@ case $action in
     else
         input=$*
     fi
+    case "$input" in
+      [$SENTENCE_DELIMITERS]*)  appendspace=;;
+      *)                        appendspace=" ";;
+    esac
     cleaninput $input
 
-    if sed -i.bak $item" s|^.*|& $input|" "$TODO_FILE"; then
+    if sed -i.bak $item" s|^.*|&${appendspace}${input}|" "$TODO_FILE"; then
         [ $TODOTXT_VERBOSE -gt 0 ] && {
             newtodo=$(sed "$item!d" "$TODO_FILE")
             echo "$item: $newtodo"