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英文写作中有哪些常见的标点符号错误?

发布时间:2017-04-21 23:15:15作者:春喜外语来源:www.tracyclass.com浏览量:
(转载请注明出处:春喜外语外教一对一少儿外教一对一在线英语培训)

本文章由春喜在线英语2017.4.21日编辑发布

 

 

在列举各个标点符号的常见问题之前,这里先说一个经常会被忽略的格式问题(尤其是在手机和电脑上的英文写作):空格。在英语书写格式中,标点符号后面至少要留一个半角空格。比如对于逗号,在逗号后面要留有一个字符长度的空格。比较下面两个句子:

(1)They would have married sooner, but they had to wait for her divorce.
(2)They would have married sooner,but they had to wait for her divorce.

第二个句子不符合英语书写规范,因为逗号后面没有一个字符的空格。事实上,如果你经常使用Word写文章,应该会留意到上面的错误提示:

 

微信图片_20170421231339.png

除了逗号之外,句号、分号以及问号等也要遵守标点符号空格的原则。比如,下面这样的句子也不符合规范:

Neither of them thought of turning on the lunch-time news.Thus Caroline didn't hear of John's death until Peter telephoned.

要改为:

Neither of them thought of turning on the lunch-time news. Thus Caroline didn't hear of John's death until Peter telephoned.

如果你不清楚应该怎么加空格,可以在Word文档上打几行字,观察Word给出的修改建议。

接下来是一些常见的标点符号问题:

1.逗号

在句子并列结构的最后成分前往往会使用连词 and, or, but 等,在这些连词前加不加逗号会对句子意思造成影响,举个例子:

(1) You should buy some pens, red bags and notebooks.
(2) You should buy some pens, red bags, and notebooks.

两个句子的表意有所不同,第二个句子 red 只修饰 bags,但第一个句子 red 可以解读为修饰 bags 以及 notebooks,因此为了避免歧义,要学会正确使用逗号。

还有另外一个例子:

(1) All the books which had pictures in them were sent to the library.
(2) All the books, which had pictures in them, were sent to the library.

在非限制性定语从句中逗号会对句子的意思造成影响。这里第一个句子的意思是“所有带插图的图书都被送到了图书馆”,第二个句子的意思是“所有的图书都被送到了图书馆,这些图书都带有插图”。在使用非限制性定语从句时要注意逗号的使用。

英文中两个完整的句子或者两个并列分句之间一般不能用逗号隔开,这一点在平时写作中很多人都能注意到,但当遇到 however,thus 这类词时,有时候很容易犯错。比如:

(1) This is a cheap and simple process, however, there are dangers.
(2) Most of the evidence was destroyed in the fire, thus it would be almost impossible to prove him guilty.

第一个句子中当 however 表示转折含义时它是副词,不能当连词用,因此逗号应该改为分号或者句号。即:

This is a cheap and simple process; however, there are dangers. /  This is a cheap and simple process. However, there are dangers.

第二个句子中 thus 是副词,同样不能当连词用,因此句子要改成:

Most of the evidence was destroyed in the fire. Thus it would be almost impossible to prove him guilty. / Most of the evidence was destroyed in the fire; thus it would be almost impossible to prove him guilty.

此外,在日期写法中的逗号使用也要注意规范。如果日期格式是 month day, year 则中间需要加逗号(例如 April 21, 2017),如果是 day month year 则不需要加逗号(例如 21 April 2017)。值得注意的一点是 month day, year 这种日期写法全世界只有美国一家有,互联网上甚至还有不少文章在讨论为什么美国人会使用这么奇怪的日期格式:

微信图片_20170421231349.jpg

 

2.书名号

汉语中书名号《》可以用来标明书名、文章名、报刊名等等,但英文中没有汉语书名号的写法。在英文中,标明书籍、报刊、戏剧、电影、绘画作品等名称时, 通常采用斜体、下划线、引号、黑体或黑体基础上的下划线。比如

In his remarkable new book, Zero to One: Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future, Peter Thiel comes off as a brilliant young man with a tendency toward exaggeration. 

在英文写作中要避免出现汉语书名号,诸如《The Economist》,《All the Light We Cannot See》这样的写法都是错误的。

3.破折号,连接号,连字符

英语中也有和汉语类似的“破折号”,我们称为 Em dash(—),它的长度等于大写字母M,主要用于将特定的概念从一个句子的主要从句中分离出来,或者分隔一个插入的想法或从句,比如:

But such shortcomings—and South Africa’s failings since his retirement from active politics—pale into insignificance when set against the magnitude of his overall achievement.

除了破折号Em dash 之外,还有连接号En dash (–),它的长度等于大写字母N,是 Em dash 的一半,主要用于连接数字表示起止范围(比如1:00–2:00 p.m.),以及表示两者之间的关系和联系(比如 Boston–Hartford route)。

此外,还有连字号Hyphen (-),它主要用于行末单词换行以及连接复合词的各个组成部分(比如 20-year-old son)。

关于破折号,连接号,连字符这三者更加详细的说明可以参加维基百科上的词条:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dash

4.省略号

英语和汉语中的省略号在书写上不同,汉语省略号一般为六点,且位置在中间(……),英语省略号只有三点,且位置在下边,即( ... ),在写英文时记得不要混淆,类似这样的用法:

Resilient Ireland, booming South Sudan, tumultuous Turkey: our country of the year is……

要改为:

Resilient Ireland, booming South Sudan, tumultuous Turkey: our country of the year is...

5.缩略符

在考场作文以及学术论文写作中要避免使用缩略符的表达法,即 What's more,I'll 这类缩写要还原为完整形式( a manager's job 这类所有格形式除外)。类似下面这样的句子:

People who can't afford to go to the theatre or concerts can afford to go to football matches.

要改为:

People who cannot afford to go to the theatre or concerts can afford to go to football matches.

以上是英语标点符号使用的几点注意事项,对于写作中不确定的标点符号用法,可以多查查语法书和维基百科,争取完全掌握标点符号用法。

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