diff --git a/extensions/sql/language-configuration.json b/extensions/sql/language-configuration.json
index ee314b0184..9543694145 100644
--- a/extensions/sql/language-configuration.json
+++ b/extensions/sql/language-configuration.json
@@ -12,8 +12,9 @@
 		["{", "}"],
 		["[", "]"],
 		["(", ")"],
-		["\"", "\""],
-		["'", "'"]
+		{ "open": "\"", "close": "\"", "notIn": ["string"] },
+		{ "open": "N'", "close": "'", "notIn": ["string", "comment"] },
+		{ "open": "'", "close": "'", "notIn": ["string", "comment"] }
 	],
 	"surroundingPairs": [
 		["{", "}"],
diff --git a/src/vs/editor/common/model/wordHelper.ts b/src/vs/editor/common/model/wordHelper.ts
index 92c969b006..ea15b16036 100644
--- a/src/vs/editor/common/model/wordHelper.ts
+++ b/src/vs/editor/common/model/wordHelper.ts
@@ -6,7 +6,7 @@
 
 import { IWordAtPosition } from 'vs/editor/common/model';
 
-export const USUAL_WORD_SEPARATORS = '`~!@#$%^&*()-=+[{]}\\|;:\'",.<>/?';
+export const USUAL_WORD_SEPARATORS = '`~!#$%^&*()-=+[{]}\\|;:\'",.<>/?';
 
 /**
  * Create a word definition regular expression based on default word separators.