問(wèn)號(hào)要用在一個(gè)直接的問(wèn)句,而不是間接的。
如:How will you solve the problem? 是正確的用法,但用在I wonder how you will solve the problem?就不對(duì)了,應(yīng)該使用句點(diǎn)而不是問(wèn)號(hào)。
另外,在客氣的用語(yǔ)中,也是用句點(diǎn)而不是問(wèn)號(hào)。
如:Will you please give me a call tomorrow。
二、句點(diǎn)
1.句點(diǎn)用于當(dāng)一句話完全結(jié)束時(shí)。
2.句點(diǎn)也可以用于英文單詞的縮寫。如:Mrs. | Dr. | P.S. 等。但要注意的是當(dāng)縮寫的字母形成了一個(gè)單詞的時(shí)候就不要使用句點(diǎn)。如:IBM, DNA 等。
三、感嘆號(hào)
感嘆號(hào)用于感嘆和驚嘆的陳述中,在商業(yè)寫作中要注意感嘆號(hào)的應(yīng)用,因?yàn)椴磺‘?dāng)?shù)氖褂脮?huì)顯得突兀及不穩(wěn)重。
四、分號(hào)
1.與中文一樣,分號(hào)用于分隔地位平等的獨(dú)立子句。在某些情況下,使用分號(hào)比使用句點(diǎn)更顯出子句之間的緊密聯(lián)系,另外分號(hào)也經(jīng)常與連接副詞 thus, however, therefore一起使用(放在這些詞語(yǔ)之前)。
如:I realize I need exercise; however, I’ll lie down first to think about it。
2.在句子中如果已經(jīng)使用過(guò)逗點(diǎn),為了避免歧義的產(chǎn)生,就用分號(hào)來(lái)分隔相似的內(nèi)容。
如:The employees were Tom Hanks, the manager; Jim White, the engineer; and Dr. Jack Lee.
需要注意的是:一個(gè)完整的句子以大寫字母開(kāi)始,以句點(diǎn)結(jié)束。寫英文時(shí)用逗點(diǎn)代替句點(diǎn)、分號(hào)、冒號(hào)或破折號(hào)叫“逗號(hào)錯(cuò)”,這正是中國(guó)學(xué)生所要避免的。
請(qǐng)比較下列例句:
錯(cuò):It was raining hard, they could not work in the fields.
(上面句子中劃?rùn)M線的部分是兩個(gè)不同的主語(yǔ),而且逗點(diǎn)前后的句子是完整的-----單獨(dú)拿出來(lái)都能代表一個(gè)完整的意思。因此,用逗號(hào)違反了英文規(guī)定,即一個(gè)句子只能有一套主干。)
對(duì):It was raining hard; they could not work in the fields.
It was raining hard. They could not work in the fields.
It was raining so hard that they could not work in the fields.
They could not work in the fields because it was raining hard.
It was raining hard, so they could not work in the fields.
As it was raining hard, they could not work in the fields.
錯(cuò):The essay is poorly organized, there is no central idea.
對(duì):The essay is poorly organized; there is no central idea.
The essay is poorly organized: there is no central idea.
五、冒號(hào)
1.冒號(hào)用于對(duì)后面內(nèi)容的介紹或解釋。如:This is her plan: go shopping.
2.冒號(hào)用于名單之前,特別是一個(gè)豎排的名單。
We transferred three employees to new branches:
·Tony Wang to New York City
·Mike Jackson to Tokyo
·Mark Foster to Paris
當(dāng)名單橫排的時(shí)候,冒號(hào)要用在一個(gè)完整的句子之后。如:We need seven people: three students, three engineers, and a professor.
3.冒號(hào)用于一個(gè)正式的引用之前。
如:The professor said: “It was horrible.”
4.冒號(hào)也可用于商業(yè)或正式信函的稱謂后面。
如:Dear Mr. Lee:(美國(guó)英語(yǔ)中,信件或演說(shuō)詞的稱呼語(yǔ)之后用冒號(hào),而在英國(guó)英語(yǔ)中多用逗號(hào)。)
5.冒號(hào)用于數(shù)字時(shí)間的表示。
如:16:45 或 4:45 p.m
6.冒號(hào)用于主標(biāo)題和副標(biāo)題之間。
如:Web Directory: World and Non-U.S. Economic Data
六、逗點(diǎn)
1.逗點(diǎn)用于分隔一系列的簡(jiǎn)單內(nèi)容。
如:I will go to Shanghai, Beijing, and Shenzhen.
2.逗點(diǎn)用于修飾名詞的多個(gè)形容詞之間。
如:a small, fancy bike
3.逗點(diǎn)用于連接兩個(gè)較長(zhǎng)的獨(dú)立子句,而且每個(gè)句子的主語(yǔ)不同。
如:The Grizzlies were out of timeouts, and Miller missed a desperation 3-pointer as time expired.
4.逗點(diǎn)用于關(guān)聯(lián)的子句之間。
如:Since he’s your younger brother, please take care of him.
5.逗點(diǎn)用于一個(gè)較長(zhǎng)的修飾短語(yǔ)之后。
如:In the middle of the coldest winter on record, the pipes froze。
6.逗點(diǎn)用于直接引用的句子之前。
如:Mary said, “Let’s go fishing。”(注意:這里說(shuō)的和上面提及的冒號(hào)在直接引語(yǔ)中的使用不一樣。如果是引用比較正式的發(fā)言講話就要用冒號(hào),一般情況下就用逗點(diǎn)。)
如果句中含有間接引用就不需要逗點(diǎn)。
如:Mary said we should go fishing.
在反問(wèn)句之前要使用逗點(diǎn)。如::
He worked very hard, didn’t he?
以上是比較常用的標(biāo)點(diǎn)。