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Punctuation Has the Power to Completely
Change the Meaning of a Sentence
标点可以完全改变句子意思
1. Commas: Be careful about commas with essential and nonessential information
逗号:注意必要和非必要信息
Ask yourself, “Is the information essential or is it extra information that could be omitted”?
问你自己:“此信息必要吗, 或是否为多余信息进行省略” ?
If the information is essential, do NOT use commas.
如果此信息是重要的,不要使用逗号。
If the information is extra, nonessential, information, you MUST use commas.
如果此信息是附加的,不必要的,必须使用逗号。
正确用法:
The equipment that we used was made by the XX Company.
错误用法:
The equipment, which we used, was made by the XX Company.
正确用法:
The equipment, which was made in Shanghai, was very expensive.
Basic Rule for Comma Use
逗号使用的一般规则
Use commas + “which” for non-essential information.
用逗号+“which”表示非必要的信息
○This review, which can also be found online, covers research that started in 1999.
×This review that can also be found online covers research that started in 1999.
Use NO commas + “that” for essential information.
直接使用“that”表示必要的信息
○The research that I reviewed started in 1999.
×The research, that I reviewed, started in 1999.
2. Hyphens, en dash, em dash: Try not to overuse because they can slow down the reader
连字符,一字线,破折号尽量少用
Hyphens and Dashes
Hyphen (-): Connector rather than in indicator of interruption or omission. 连接
well-being, advanced-level
En dash (–): Means “through.” 范围
August 28–29; pp. 2–5.
• Em dash (—): Separator to create a strong break in a sentence, like parentheses. 断开
These two cities—that is, Beijing and Shanghai—are developing rapidly.
Practice Exercise 练习
1. The introduction is written on pages 3□6.
2. The CUJS conference will be held November 24□November 30 in Beijing, China.
3. Mr. Wang had tried asking, begging, and even demanding cooperation from his staff□all of whom were busy with other things□before he gave up and wrote the report himself.
4. No one□not even his professor□thought that his article would be published in Nature.
5. This is a well□known problem in organic chemistry.
3. Colons, Semicolons 冒号和分号
Colon: for listing and defining, and indicates a stronger pause than a semicolon.
冒号: 用于列举,定义,比分号停顿强
The presentation covered three topics: grammar, punctuation, and format.
Semicolon: for joining two related complete sentences (shows closer relationship than “.”).
分号: 用于连接两个相关句子,比句号更具关联性
The patient had no prior history of disease; however, he presented with many common symptoms.
4. Asian Symbols
亚洲字符:全角字符
All Asian, full-space fonts should be changed to Western, half-space fonts for accurate display on
other computers and for proper printing.
全角字符亚洲字符应转换为西文(半角) 字符,以便准确显示和打印
The biggest offenders:
用错最多的符号:
、 , ; : ( ) × % < > ℃
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