英文论文写作中标点符号应注意的事项PunctuationBadpunctuationcanoftenmakeeventhebestwritingunintelligible.Ontheotherhand,goodpunctuationcanmakeyourmeaningclearandyourlanguageeffective.EnglishpunctuationgenerallydiffersfromthatofotherEuropeanlanguages;eventhoughthereisoftenconsiderableroomforpersonalpreferences,amasteryofthebasicrulesisindispensable.Thereisoneoverridingprinciple:tousethebareminimumofpunctuationnecessarytokeepthewritingintelligible.Thefollowinglistofrulesmakesnoclaimtoexhaustiveness.I.TheApostrophe(‘)1.men’s,women’s,children’s,people’sItiscorrecttowritethisarea’sproblems,meaning“theproblemsofthisarea〞,andtheseareas’problems,meaning“theproblemsoftheseareas〞:infact,puttingapostrophesanywhereelsewouldbewrong.Butthepluralsofman,woman,andchildareexceptionstothisgeneralrule:thuswewritethemen’swives,thewomen’shusbands,thechildren’smothers,andnothingelse.Anotherimportantexceptionisthewordpeoplewhenitdenotesthepluralof“person〞:thuswewouldwritethesepeople’sbehavior,meaning“thebehaviorofthesepersons〞,butthesepeoples’behavior,meaning“thebehaviorofthesepeoples〞(i.e.ethnicgroups).Otherirregularpluralsaretreatedinthesamewayasmen,women,children,andpeople:aboveallthepluralsofox,sheep,gooseandmice(e.g.theoxen’spasture,thesheep’swool,thegeese’sflight,themice’stails).2.AmistakethatisfrequentamongforeignlearnersofEnglishistowriteaphrasesuchas“thesearea’sproblems〞,whenwhatthepersonactuallymeansistheseproblemsofthearea.3.Itisbesttousetheapostrophewhenyouwanttoshowthepluralofsomethingwhichcannotnormallybeplural:Thepasttenseofoccurisspeltwithtwor’s.Iaccepttheideainprinciple,buttherearealotofif’s.4.Stringsofapostrophesaretobeavoided.Thusoneshouldwritethefriendsofthatman’sson,insteadof“thatman’sson’sfriends〞.5.Wesayintendays’time,intwentyyears’time(i.e.weusetheapostrophe).6.Wesayeachother’s,not“eachothers’〞(e.g.togetoneachother’snerves).II.TheColon(:)1.QuotationsThecolonisoftenusedtointroducequotations:ToquoteNietzsche:“Godisdead!〞A...
