diff --git a/lisp/help-mode.el b/lisp/help-mode.el
index 2f82d83ceb..6280fad1c1 100644
--- a/lisp/help-mode.el
+++ b/lisp/help-mode.el
@@ -111,6 +111,15 @@ help-xref-stack-forward-item
 (setq-default help-xref-stack nil help-xref-stack-item nil)
 (setq-default help-xref-forward-stack nil help-xref-forward-stack-item nil)
 
+(defvar help-mode-syntax-table
+  (let ((table (make-syntax-table emacs-lisp-mode-syntax-table)))
+    ;; treat single quotes as parens so that forward-sexp does not
+    ;; break when quoted string contains punctuation
+    (modify-syntax-entry ?‘ "(’  " table)
+    (modify-syntax-entry ?’ ")‘  " table)
+    table)
+  "Syntax table used in `help-mode'.")
+
 (defcustom help-mode-hook nil
   "Hook run by `help-mode'."
   :type 'hook
@@ -490,7 +499,7 @@ help-make-xrefs
         (let ((stab (syntax-table))
               (case-fold-search t)
               (inhibit-read-only t))
-          (set-syntax-table emacs-lisp-mode-syntax-table)
+          (set-syntax-table help-mode-syntax-table)
           ;; The following should probably be abstracted out.
           (unwind-protect
               (progn
@@ -643,7 +652,7 @@ help-insert-xref-button
 (defun help-xref-on-pp (from to)
   "Add xrefs for symbols in `pp's output between FROM and TO."
   (if (> (- to from) 5000) nil
-    (with-syntax-table emacs-lisp-mode-syntax-table
+    (with-syntax-table help-mode-syntax-table
       (save-excursion
 	(save-restriction
 	  (narrow-to-region from to)