英文标点符号 Punctuation

　　+plus加号；正号
　　-minus减号；负号
　　±plusorminus正负号
　　×ismultipliedby乘号
　　÷isdividedby除号
　　＝isequalto等于号
　　≠isnotequalto不等于号
　　≡isequivalentto全等于号
　　≌isequaltoorapproximatelyequalto等于或约等于号
　　≈isapproximatelyequalto约等于号

　　＜islessthan小于号
　　＞ismorethan大于号
　　≮isnotlessthan不小于号
　　≯isnotmorethan不大于号
　　≤islessthanorequalto小于或等于号
　　≥ismorethanorequalto大于或等于号
　　%percent百分之...
　　‰permill千分之...
　　∞infinity无限大号
　　∝variesas与...成比例

　　√(square)root平方根
　　∵since;because因为
　　∴hence所以
　　∷equals,as(proportion)等于，成比例
　　∠angle角
　　⌒semicircle半圆
　　⊙circle圆
　　○circumference圆周
　　πpi圆周率
　　△triangle三角形

　　⊥perpendicularto垂直于
　　∪unionof并，合集
　　∩intersectionof交，通集
　　∫theintegralof...的积分
　　∑(sigma)summationof总和
　　°degree度
　　′minute分
　　″second秒
　　℃Celsiussystem摄氏度

　　{openbrace,opencurly左花括号
　　}closebrace,closecurly右花括号
　　(openparenthesis,openparen左圆括号
　　)closeparenthesis,closeparen右圆括号
　　()brakets/parentheses括号
　　[openbracket左方括号
　　]closebracket右方括号
　　[]squarebrackets方括号
　　.period,dot句号，点
　　|verticalbar,verticalvirgule竖线

　　&ampersand,and,reference,ref和，引用
　　*asterisk,multiply,star,pointer星号，乘号，星，指针
　　/slash,divide,oblique斜线，斜杠，除号
　　//slash-slash,comment双斜线，注释符
　　#pound井号
　　backslash,sometimes
　　escape反斜线转义符，有时表示转义符或续行符
　　~tilde波浪符

　　.fullstop句号
　　,comma逗号
　　:colon冒号
　　;semicolon分号
　　?questionmark问号
　　!exclamationmark(英式英语)exclamationpoint(美式英语)
　　'apostrophe撇号
　　-hyphen连字号
　　--dash破折号
　　...dots/ellipsis省略号

　　"singlequotationmarks单引号
　　""doublequotationmarks双引号
　　‖parallel双线号
　　&ampersand=and
　　～swungdash代字号
　　§section;division分节号
　　→arrow箭号；参见号

PunctuationGuide-EmpowerYourWriting

Ispunctuationbecominglessimportant?Certainlythereislessofitinmodernwriting.Butlessimportant?EmphaticallyNO!

Bylearningafewsimplerulesyoucanmakeyourwritingclear,powerfulandstylish.Punctuation,properlyemployed,canleadareaderontotheconclusionyouwant.

Lookoverthisbriefsummaryofkeypunctuationmarksandseeifyouareexploitingtheseclearwritingpowertoolstothefull.

(Theseguidelinesaregeneralandfit90%ofcases.Thereareexceptionsofcoursewhicharebeyondthescopeofthisoverview.)

Apostrophe|Asterisk|Bracket|Bullets|Capitals|[Colon|Comma|Dash|Ellipsis|Exclamation|Hyphen|Parenthesis|Period|Question|Quotation|Semicolon|Slash

Apostrophe'

Apostrophesareusedintwodifferentways.

1)toindicatepossession

2)toindicatemissingletterswhenwordsareshortened(contraction).

Example:
"Let'sallgoinJohn'scar."

Theapostropheintheword"Let's"indicatesashorteningof"Letus"andtheapostrophein"John's"indicatesthecarbelongstoJohn.

ThepositionofthePossesiveApostrophecanindicatesingularorplural.

Example:
Standoutsidethegirl'sschool.(onegirl)
and
Standoutsidethegirls'school.(agroupofgirls).

Sotouseapostropheswithoutgrammaticalcatastrophes,thinkwhichuseyouneed.Istheapostropheneededtoshowpossessionortoshowcontraction?Ifneither,thenyoudon'tneedanapostrophe.

Asterisk*

Theasteriskisareferencemarkindicatingthatafootnoteorexplanatoryparagraphappearssomewhereelseonthatpage,generallyatthefootofthepage.Seethisexample.*

_____
*Anotheruseoftheasteriskhasdeveloped.Toindicateswearwordswithoutbeingobjectionableyetconveyingthesameforcemeantbythespeaker.Example:"Hereplied,'Don'tbesuchab****fool!'"

Bracket[]

Thefunctionsofthesquarebracketandtheroundbracket(parenthesis)arequitedifferent.

Squarebracketshavelimiteduse,primarilybeingusedinpublishingtoindicateeditorialcommentoracommentfromanauthority.

Example:
He[PresidentClinton]wasabouttoembarkonatouroftheFarEast.

SeeParenthesis

Bullets

Bulletedlistsareextremelyeffectiveincapturingtheinterestofyouraudience.

Personswhobrowsetheinternetwanttofindinformationquickly.Theywanttobeabletoreaditeasilywithouthavingtowadethroughpagesoftext.

Bulletsdirecttheeyetothemainpointsquickly.

Theyencouragewriterstobebrief,statingthemainpointinafewwordsoraphrase.

Theysummarizealistofpointsorconclusions.

Bottomline:Ifyouwanttowriteeffectivecopy,USEBULLETS!

CapitalsA

Themainrulesare:

Capitalizepropernouns

Example:TakeatriptoNewYorkCity.

Capitalizethefirstwordinasentence.

Capitalizethefirstletterofeachwordinatitleexceptforwordslikeand,the,a,anetc.

Capitalizeaperson'stitlewhenitcomesbeforetheirname.

Example:DoctorJones

Capitalizethefirstwordinaquotedsentence.

Example:Dereksaid:"Thatbookisworthreading."

Caution:Donotcapitalizeeverythinginatitle.Whilethedesiremaybetoattractattention,theeffectcanbetiresomeandoverdone.

Colon:

Enrichyourwritingstylewithdiscreetuseofthecolon.Itisgenerallyusedtointroducesomethingthatfollows.Herearesomeplaceswhereacoloniswellused

Tointroducealist

Example:Sendthelettertothefollowingdepartments:Sales,MarketingandAdmin.

Tointroduceaquotation

Tointroduceaquestion

Tointroduceaconclusion

Example:Theconclusionofthematterwas:Letbygonesbebygones.

Comma,

Masteringtheversatilecommacantransformyourwriting.Hereisabrieflistofsomeofit'smostimportantfunctions:

Itemizing

Example:Onthestationeryorder,pencils,rubbers,pens,staples,paperclipsandnotepadswerelisted.

Tosetapartpersonsandnames

Example:John,whatareyoudoinghere?

Addinganadditionalthought

Example:Theweddingwas,onthewhole,veryenjoyable.

Forreinforcement

Example:Hewasastrongman,verystrong.

Tosetoffcomparisons

Example:Theloudershespoke,themoreheshouted.

Dash-

Thedashcanbemorepowerfulthanacommaorasemicolonorparenthesis.However,useitjudiciously.Overdone,itcanmakeapassageseemjerky!

Whatisthedifferencebetweenadashandahyphen?Adashisusedintheconstructionofsentences.Ahyphenisusedintheconstructionofwords.

Thedashcanbeusedto:

Link

Example:Theroomwasdecoratedwiththreestrongcolors-blue,greenandred..

Pause

Example:Thetrainarrivedasexpected-onehourlate.

Interrupt

Example:"ImustaskyouSirto-well,I'msorry-toleave!"

Extendasentence

Example:Thehecklerhurledabuseatthespeaker-andthenquietlysatdown.

Separatealist

Example:Shecollectedallhertools-brushes,oils,palette,cloths,crayons,canvass-andstartedtopaint.

Ellipsis...

Thethreedotellipsisisprimarilyusedtoindicatemissingwordsorphrases.Itcancanbesubtlyusedintheseinstancestoindicate:

Anunfinishedthought

Example:Hewasabouttojumpbutthenhethought...

Animpliedwordorphrasethereaderisexpectedtoknow

Example:Whenaskedwhyhewasafraidofflyinghemerelysaid:"Whatgoesupmust..."

Wordsorphrasesomittedfromaquotation

Disjointedspeech

Example:Hewassoshockedhecouldonlymumble,"Whatthe...Imeantosay...Whereinthe..."

Exclamation!

Judicioususeoftheexclamationmarkaddsemphasistoimportantstatements.Overusekillsit'seffectiveness.Sothinktwicebeforeusinganexclamationmark.

Herearesomesituationswherenothingbutanexclamationmarkwillgivethesamesense:

Tocommand

Example:Getback!

Toconveyironyorreversemeaning

Example:Youmustbejoking!

Toemphasizeinsults

Example:Youblitheringidiot!

Toconveyangerordisgust

Example:Thatsmellisabsolutelyrevolting!

Hyphen-

Hyphensareusedtojointwoassociatedwords.Toillustrate,thehyphenin"man-eatingtiger"changesthemeaningentirelyfrom"maneatingtiger".Inthefirstinstancewearetalkingaboutatigerwhohasatasteforhumans.Inthesecondwearetalkingaboutamanwhohasatastefortigers.

Hyphensarealsoused:

Asguidestopronunciation

Examples:co-operation,re-establish

Todivideawordattheendofaline

Foremphasis

Example:Isaid,"I'mf-r-e-e-z-i-n-g".

Toseparategroupednames

Example:TheAnglo-FrenchAlliance

Parenthesis()

Parenthesis(roundbrackets)insertrelevant,additionalmaterialintoasentencealthoughthesentencewouldstillreadsmoothlywithoutit.

Herearesomeusesforparenthesis:

Toaddinformation

Example:Thehousewasinanideallocationnearthesea(justafiveminutewalk)sotherewasnoproblemingettingtenants.

Toaddafterthoughts

Example:Thespeakerwastotallyunpreparedforthiskindofaudience(orsoitseemed).

Forclarification

Example:TheiractionwasinviolationoftheTermsandConditions(page2,paragraph3)theyhadsigned.

Toaddpersonalremarks

Example:Theyweresoproudoftheirnewlydecoratedapartment(tomeitseemedalittletacky)theyinsistedongivingeveryvisitoraguidedtour.

Toshowoptions

Example:Pleaseputthedocument(s)inthetrayonthesecretary'sdesk.

Period.

Theperiodorfullstopmayonlybeadot,butwhatapowerfuldot!

Itisusedtoseparatesentences.Readingapassagenotdelimitedwithperiodswouldbeextremelytiresomeandthemeaningwouldbecomequiteambiguous.

Soremember,whetherthesentenceisshortorlong,itMUSTconcludewithaperiod.

Periodshavealsobeenusedtraditionallytoindicateanabbreviation.

Example:a.m.andp.m.

Inmodernusagehoweverthisisbecomingmoreinfrequentandabbreviationsnowregularlyappearwithoutperiods.

Example:amandpm

Question?

Themostobvioususeofthequestionmarkisattheendofasentencewhichasksadirectquestion.

Example:Whereareyougoingthisweekend?

However,whenanindirectquestionisraisedaquestionmarkisnotneeded.

Example:SheaskedmeifIenjoyedhercooking.

Thequestionmarkcanalsobeusedtocreateothereffects:

Todeclare

Example:Didyoureallythinkyoucouldgetawaywiththis?

Herethequestionmarktingestheexpressionwithangerandfrustration.

Toexclaim

Example:Isn'tthatabeautifulsunset?

Thequestionaddsforcetothestatementmakingitanexclamation.

Toinviteananswer

Example:Thisseemsthewrongcolor,don'tyouthink?

Quotation"

Quotationmarksareusedtoindicatedirectspeech.Theyareextremelyimportantinconveyingaccuratemeaning.Withoutthemitcanbehardtoknowwhoisspeakingorwhoisbeingspokenabout;whetherthequotationisaparaphraseorwhetheritisdirectspeech.

Example:Tomsaid,"Itwashisfaultwewerelate."

Tomsaiditwashisfault"wewerelate".

InthefirstexampleTomisblamingsomeoneelse.Inthesecondexampleheistakingresponsibilityhimself.Thequotationmarksmakeallthedifferencetothemeaning.

Shouldquotationsbedoubleorsingle?Thereyouhaveacontroversy.Sufficetosay,whicheveroneyouchoose,consistentlystickwithit!

Shouldendingpunctuationbewithinthequotesoroutsidethequotes?

InAmericanEnglish,allpunctuationmarkscomewithinquotationmarksattheendofasentence.

InBritishEnglish,apunctuationmarkcomeswithinthequotationmarksifitdirectlyrelatestothequote.Ifthepunctuationrelatestothesentenceasawholethenitcomesoutsidethequotationmarks.

Hereareanumberofinstanceswherequotationmarksareeffective:

Toindicateatitle

Example:HestartedrecitingShakespeare'sclassic,"JuliusCaesar".

Toindicatedoubtordisbelief

Example:Theback-streetclinichadone"doctor"ondutythatevening.

Toindicatethatawordofphraseshouldnotbetakenliterally

Example:Newsyntheticfibreshavemade"grass"playingsurfacesverydurable.

Semicolon;

Theusesofsemicolonsarenumerous.Herearethemainones:

Tojoinwords,phrasesandsentences

Toseparatewordgroupsthatalreadycontaincommas

Example:ThecommitteewasmadeupofM.Harding,President;J.Gower,Vice-president;B.Gardner,SecretaryandW.TaylorasChairman.

Toprovideapausebeforecertainadverbsandconjunctions

Example:Hejustscrapedpastthefinishinglinebyahair'sbreadth;nevertheless,hewon!

Toemphasizeoppositestatementsandcontrast

Example:Thehouselookedbeautifulaftertherenovation;pityaboutthegarden.

Slash/

Theslashhaslimitedfunctions.Primarilyitisused:

Toindicateoptions

Example:Thatwillbehis/herchoice.

Toabbreviate

Example:careof-c/o
account-A/c