英文论文写作中标点符号应注意的事项英文论文写作中标点符号应注意的事项 Punctuation Bad punctuation can often make even bestwriting unintelligible. otherhand, good punctuation can make your meaning clear yourlanguage effective. English punctuation generally differs from otherEuropean languages; even though oftenconsiderable room personalpreferences, basicrules oneoverriding principle: bareminimum punctuationnecessary writingintelligible. followinglist rulesmakes Apostrophe(') men's,women's, children's, people's area'sproblems, meaning areas'problems, meaning fact,putting apostrophes anywhere else would man,woman, generalrule: thus we write men'swives, women'shusbands, children'smothers, nothingelse. Another important exception wordpeople when ;person;:thus we would write people'sbehavior, meaning peoples'behavior, meaning peoples;(i.e. ethnic groups). Other irregular plurals sameway men,women, children, people:above all ox,sheep, goose mice(e.g. oxen'spasture, sheep'swool, geese'sflight, mice'stails). frequentamong foreign learners area'sproblems;, when what personactually means apostrophewhen you want somethingwhich cannot normally pasttense twor's. avoided.Thus one should write man'sson, instead man'sson's friends;. Wesay tendays' time, twentyyears' time (i.e. we use Wesay each other's, ;eachothers'; (e.g. eachother's nerves). II. oftenused introducequotations: quoteNietzsche: ;God bard(One ancientCeltic order minstrelpoets who composed recitedverses celebrating legendaryexploits heroes.吟游诗人古代凯尔特族的吟游诗人,自编自唱,吟唱酋长和英雄的传奇业绩) so abruptly puts it:All coloncan also introducedirect speech, especially ratherformal seriouscontexts: Finally Mark Antony began his address: ;Friends, Romans, countrymen (compatriots), lend me your ears...;. N.B. (N.B.=[拉]nota bene (=note well)注意, 留心) introduceconversation. ii. Direct formal quotations begin capitalletter. iii. introducequotes consisting verybrief phrases: Do you know MrsThatcher actually said ;shut up; LordCarrington? oftenused after mainclause where followingstatement explains, elaborates, clause,especially formalcontexts. maysometimes fullstop worrying:disasters happenanyway. (Full stop semicolonalso possible.) totallyopposed twoaspects permissivesociety: artificialmethods birthcontrol. Apartheid (种族隔离) overthrown:rather, naturaldeath. (Full stop semicolonalso possible.) killingever justified? He certainly has oncesaw him drink wholebottle whisky.(Full stop semicolonalso possible.) onegood thing about skinheads (剃光头的人) absolutelyhate each other. ListsColons can also introducelists enumerations,often using followingphrases: worlddescribed Orwell'sAnimal Farm two basic principles become all-important: allanimals equal;(ii) some animals moreequal than others. Our solar system consists followingplanets Mercury(水星),Venus(金星), Earth, Mars(火星), Jupiter(木星), Saturn(土星), Uranus(天王星), Neptune(海王星), Pluto(冥王星).N.B. Try avoidsentences like following,where separatedfrom saltpeter(硝石),sulphur(硫磺), charcoal.Better would follows:saltpetre, sulphur, Gunpowderhas three ingredients: saltpeter, sulphur, charcoal.III. Non-definingCompare twofollowing sentences Pop-starswho earn fortunes should pay higher taxes. (Defining relative clause---i.e. only those pop-stars who earn fortunes should pay higher taxes.) Pop-stars,who earn fortunes, should pay higher taxes. (Non-defining relative clause i.e.all pop-stars earn fortunes thereforeshould pay higher taxes.) firstsentence refers only somepop-stars, while secondsentence refers allpop-stars. Note secondsentence twocommas sameprinciple operates wordswhen where.Compare daywhen JFK November22, when JFK townwhere prettyarid. Quetta,where prettyarid place. Note (afterassassinated), sameprinciple also extends appositionalphrases. Compare Nietzsche'swork GayScience Nietzsche'slast work, GayScience(艳体诗), famousthinker Michel Foucault has just died. famousthinker, Michel Foucault, has just died. e.The Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher, has just resigned. MargaretThatcher, PrimeMinister, has just resigned. defining,i.e. GayScience onlyone severalworks non-defining,because only one work can author'slast. MichelFoucault onlyfamous thinker; therefore, nameMichel Foucault famousthinker MichelFoucault same;therefore, Michel Foucault hencecommas. Sentences commas),because onlyone Prime Minister anyone time. Before we go