如何正确使用英语标点符号
3. 冒号(：)
(1) 用在解释或逐项列举之前(在as follows, the following as these或given
below之后)。
(a) I bought the following articles: sheets, towels, and blankets．
(b) The table lamp consists of three parts: a stand, a bulb, and a shade.
(2) 用在正式或事务信函中称谓之后。
Dear Sir: Dear Mr. Reagan: Gentlemen:
注意:在非正式或交际信函中称谓之后用逗号。
Dear Mary, Dear John,
(3) 用在数字之后，表示时间。
Our class starts at 8:10 a.m. and ends at 12:00 noon.
(4) 用在较长的引用句或正式问句之前。
(a) This is my favorite quotation: “It is difficult to say what is impossible, for the dream of yesterday is the hope of today and reality of tomorrow.”
(b) The question is: What can we do for our country?
(5) 用在讲释第一个主要子句的第二个主要句子之前。
Her intention is obvious: she wants to marry him.
4. 破折号(--)
(1) 表示犹豫，句意的暂时中断, 或思想的突然中断。
(a) I—I don’t know. You’d better ask her.
(b) The entire teaching facilities—console, tapes, earphones, and tape recorders—were stolen last night.
(c) I’ll give—let’s see, what can I give?
(2) 用以强调同位语。
She has only one interest—food.
(3) 用在结语之前。
Professor Chu collects postage stamps, coins, sea shells, matchboxes—in short,
anything that interests him.
(4) 用在未完成句之后。
She said, “He was everything to me, but--”
5. 惊叹号(！)
(1) 用在以强烈情感说出的字句之后。
(a) What a surprise!
(b) How beautiful a girl she is!
(c) What a beautiful girl she is!
(2) 用在祈使句之后。
(a) Help! My house is on fire!
(b) Be quiet!
6. 连字句(-)
(1) 用以表示分数或连接由21至99中的十位数及个位数。
(a) Three-fourths of the freshman students are girls.
(b) There are twenty-two boy student and ninety-eight girl students in the Department of English.
(2) 用在行末连接分写的单字。
He is a graduate student of National Chengchi Uni-
versity.
(3) 用以连接复合字中的各字。
We had a heart-to heart talk last night.
7. 括号( )
用来在句中附加评论或解释。
I saw the two students (they are lovers) kissing each other.
8. 句号( . )
(1) 用在叙述句，祈使句及礼貌问句之后。
(a) I wish to enter an ideal university.
(b) Turn in your papers, please.
(c) Will you please send me a copy of your university catalogue.
(2) 用在间接问句之后。
She asked if you would come to her birthday party.
(3) 用在缩写名字和其他字的第一个字母之后，或缩写字之后。
(a) Prof. W. W. Wang has returned to Taipei.
(b) Dr. Tang earned his Ph. D. degree from Georgetown University in Washington, D. C. (District of Columbia).
9. 问号(？)
(1) 用在直接问句之后。
Do you find English writing difficult?
(2) 用在括号中表示存疑。
Chaucer was born in 1340(?) and died in 1400.
10. 引号(“ ”)
(1) 用在引用句的前后。
(a) Our teacher said, “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.”
(b) “I don’t like her, ” she explained, “because she is far too proud.”
(2) 如果引用句本身是叙述句而且位在一个问句之后，必须先用引号，再用问号。
Did he say, “I am going to college next year”?
如果引用句本身是问句，则必须先用问号，再用引号。
Did he say, “Are you going to college next year?”
(3) 引用文句有两段或两段以上时，只在每一段开始时和最后一段结束时用引号。
“Mom and Dad did not come home with them because Sunday was parents’ day off; the boys did the housework and cooked the meal of the week, while Father and Mother stayed on for church service.
“But by the time diner was ready the boy had climbed into bed. The shoe had to be cut off his swollen and discolored leg. Why on earth hadn’t he told somebody? Go quick and fetch the doctor!”
(4) 引用句中另有引用句时, 用单引号表示
She said, “ I quite agree to the saying ‘To love and to be loved is the greatest happiness on earth’.”
注意：美式英文中，双引号在外，单引号在内，英式英文中恰好相反。
11. 分号 (；)
(1) 用以连接两个或两个以上的主要子句。
(a) The singular form is mouse; the plural form is mice.
(b) she made up her mind; she laid her plans; she began her trip.
(2) 用在连接两个主要子句的连接副词 (consequently, however, moreover, nevertheless, so, still, then, therefore, thus, etc.)之前。
He did not pass the examination; therefore, he was unhappy.
(3) 用在连接两个主要子句的连接词 (and, but, or, nor, for)之前，当主要子句本身
有逗号时。
Henry, a freshman, lives at home; but Karl, his brother, does not.
12. 删节号 (…)
用以表示引用句中省略的文字。如删节号用在句尾，另加原句句尾的标点符号。
In his essay LUCK Winston Churchill wrote: “The longer one lives, the more one realizes that everything depends upon chance… a man’s own contribution to his life story is continually by an external superior power.”
注意：英文中表示「等等」用etc.而不是用删节号(…)。