英文論文寫作中標點符號應注意的事項

　　punctuation

　　bad punctuation can often make even the best writing unintelligible. on the other hand, good punctuation can make your meaning clear and your language effective. english punctuation generally differs from that of other european languages; even though there is often considerable room for personal preferences, a mastery of the basic rules is indispensable.

　　there is one overriding principle: to use the bare minimum of punctuation necessary to keep the writing intelligible. the following list of rules makes no claim to exhaustiveness.

　　i. the apostrophe (')

　　1. men's, women's, children's, people's

　　it is correct to write this area's problems, meaning "the problems of this area", and these areas' problems, meaning "the problems of these areas": in fact, putting apostrophes anywhere else would be wrong. but the plurals of man, woman, and child are exceptions to this general rule: thus we write the men's wives, the women's husbands, the children's mothers, and nothing else.

　　another important exception is the word people when it denotes the plural of "person": thus we would write these people's behavior, meaning "the behavior of these persons", but these peoples' behavior, meaning "the behavior of these peoples" (i.e. ethnic groups).

　　other irregular plurals are treated in the same way as men, women, children, and people: above all the plurals of ox, sheep, goose and mice (e.g. the oxen's pasture, the sheep's wool, the geese's flight, the mice's tails).

　　2. a mistake that is frequent among foreign learners of english is to write a phrase such as "these area's problems", when what the person actually means is these problems of the area. 3. it is best to use the apostrophe when you want to show the plural of something which cannot normally be plural:

　　the past tense of occur is spelt with two r's.

　　i accept the idea in principle, but there are a lot of if’s.

　　4. strings of apostrophes are to be avoided. thus one should write the friends of that man's son, instead of "that man's son's friends".

　　5. we say in ten days' time, in twenty years' time (i.e. we use the apostrophe). 6. we say each other's, not "each others'" (e.g. to get on each other's nerves).

　　ii. the colon (:) 1. quotations

　　the colon is often used to introduce quotations:

　　to quote nietzsche: "god is dead!"

　　as the bard (one of an ancient celtic order of minstrel poets who composed and recited verses celebrating the legendary exploits of chieftains and heroes.吟游詩人古代凱爾特族的吟游詩人，自編自唱，吟唱酋長和英雄的傳奇業績) so abruptly puts it:“all the world’s a stage”

　　the colon can also be used to introduce direct speech, especially in rather formal or serious contexts:

　　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)

　　i. the colon is not used to introduce conversation.

　　ii. direct formal quotations begin with a capital letter.

　　iii. the colon is not used to introduce quotes consisting of very brief phrases:

　　do you know that mrs thatcher actually said "shut up" to lord carrington?

　　2. explanations

　　the colon is often used after a main clause where the following statement explains, elaborates, or illustrates that clause, especially in formal contexts. it may sometimes be replaced by a full stop or a semicolon.

　　there is no point in worrying: disasters are sure to happen anyway. (full stop and semicolon also possible.)

　　the church is totally opposed to two aspects of the permissive society: that is, abortion on demand and artificial methods of birth control.

　　apartheid (種族隔離) was not overthrown: rather, it died a natural death. (full stop and semicolon also possible.)

　　the question is this: is killing ever justified?

　　he certainly has a drinking-problem: i once saw him drink a whole bottle of whisky. (full stop and semicolon also possible.)

　　there is one good thing about skinheads (剃光頭的人) and punks: they absolutely hate each other.

　　3. lists

　　colons can also be used to introduce lists or enumerations, often using the following phrases: as follows, for example, for instance, such as, and the following.

　　in the world described in orwell's animal farm two basic principles become all-important: (i) all animals are equal; (ii) some animals are more equal than others.

　　our solar system consists of the following planets (行星): mercury(水星), venus(金星), earth, mars(火星), jupiter(木星), saturn(土星), uranus(天王星), neptune(海王星), and pluto(冥王星).

　　n.b. try to avoid sentences like the following, where the subject and the verb are separated from the complement:

　　the ingredients of gunpowder are: saltpeter(硝石), sulphur(硫磺), and charcoal.

　　better would be to remove the colon, or else to rephrase the sentence:

　　the ingredients of gunpowder are as follows: saltpetre, sulphur, and charcoal.

　　or:

　　gunpowder has three ingredients: saltpeter, sulphur, and charcoal.

　　iii. the comma (,)

　　1. defining and non-defining

　　compare the two following sentences (a and b):

　　a. pop-stars who earn fortunes should pay higher taxes.

　　(defining relative clause---i.e. only those pop-stars who earn fortunes should pay higher taxes.)

　　b. pop-stars, who earn fortunes, should pay higher taxes.

　　(non-defining relative clause -- i.e. all pop-stars earn fortunes and therefore should pay higher taxes.)

　　the first sentence refers only to some pop-stars, while the second sentence refers to all pop-stars. note that in the second sentence there are two commas (not one), to mark the beginning and the end of the clause.

　　the same principle operates with the words when and where.

　　compare the following:

　　a. the day when jfk was assassinated i was crossing the atlantic.

　　b. on november 22, when jfk was assassinated, i was crossing the atlantic.

　　c. the town where i was stationed was pretty arid.

　　d. quetta, where i was stationed, was a pretty arid place.

　　note that a comma is possible in a (after assassinated), but not in c.

　　the same principle also extends to appositional phrases.

　　compare the following:

　　a. nietzsche's work the gay science was written in 1888.

　　b. nietzsche's last work, the gay science(艷體詩), was written in 1888.

　　c. the famous thinker michel foucault has just died.

　　d. a famous thinker, michel foucault, has just died.

　　e.the prime minister, margaret thatcher, has just resigned.

　　f. margaret thatcher, the prime minister, has just resigned.

　　in a the title of the work is defining, i.e. the gay science was only one of several works by nietzsche. in b the title is non-defining, because only one work can be the author's last. in c michel foucault is not the only famous thinker; therefore, the name michel foucault is defining, and hence no commas. in d a famous thinker and michel foucault are one and the same; therefore, michel foucault is non-defining, and hence commas. sentences e and f are non-defining (and therefore with commas), because in britain there is only one prime minister at any one time.

　　before we go on, it is impo