刘易斯·托马斯eDN中国英语学习网 eDN中国英语学习网 标点符号的用法从来都没有严格的规定。eDN中国英语学习网 在所有的标点里面，最有用也最好用的当推逗号。使用逗号最关键的一点在于，写的过程中就应把它们标上。如果在写完了一段之后你才回过头来，在那些你忍不住要加逗号的地方一一加上，你就会发现，这些逗号仿佛数不清的小鱼，全都游进了你先前未曾觉察的许多罅隙里。你还没明白怎么回事，整个长句子就已被逗号们捆得严严实实，动弹不得。使用它们时最好克制一点，爱惜一点，等到机会召唤你的时候，再妥帖地放上去。eDN中国英语学习网 近年来，我对分号越来越迷恋。分号给你的感觉时，前面那句完整的句子还有讨论的余地，还需要补充某些东西；有时它会让你联想起希腊语的标点风格。比起句号来，分号几乎总是给读者带来更大的快乐。句号仿佛是对你说，就这些了；不论你获没获得你所期待的信息，反正作者想说的都说完了，你得往前挪了。可是分号却能给你一种小小的幸福的期盼。后面还有东西呢；往下读吧；你会明白是怎么回事的。eDN中国英语学习网 eDN中国英语学习网 冒号却很不招人喜欢，这有几个原因：第一，它们老会给你一种不快的感觉，仿佛被人呼来唤去，不得安身，至少它们命令你去的地方是违背你自己的意愿的。第二，你会怀疑，自己是不是又得忍受那种恼人的句子，其中所有的要点都非用第一、第二、第三之类标明不可，作者的潜台词是你的脑子不好使，他要不给你标上数字，你就跟不上他的思路。还有，许多作者在使用这样的标号时都马虎大意，有始无终。刚开始的时候，有第一、第二，好像他们正扳着指头数呢，可是读着读着，你就看不到你所期待的标号了，你徒然在泥沼中挣扎，等着第九、第十七来救命，可它们却始终没有现身。eDN中国英语学习网 eDN中国英语学习网 eDN中国英语学习网 感叹号是所有标点中最令人憎恶的。瞧！它们在嚷嚷，我说的多漂亮！我的思想多了不起！这就像别人家的小孩，在客厅中央发了神经似的跳上跳下，大声叫喊着，想吸引所有人的注意，你只能无奈地观看他的表演。如果一个句子里真的包含了有价值的东西，令人眼前一亮的东西，又何需什么标点符号指出来？如果归根结底，那只不过是一个平庸的句子，不得不求助于外在的装饰，那么感叹号只会让人更清楚地注意到它的平庸！eDN中国英语学习网 引号的用法必须诚实、严格，只有真正引用别人的话时才用，而且放入引号中的话必须仔细核对。引用的时候，务必原封不动地使用原话。如果由于篇幅的限制不得不有所省略，那合乎规范的做法是用省略号标明，但如果这样做意味着把原作者两个不相干的想法拽到一块儿，那也是违反道德的。尤其重要的是，那些你自己都不愿承认的想法，或者说道听途说的东西，是不应当放到引号里面的。你也不应该用引号来标示那些早已用滥的话；如果你非要用，那全部责任都应你自己承担，而不能推给某个无名氏或整个社会。最令人反感的滥用引号的例子可以在某些广告里找到（这很能说明日常文字里滥用标点是多么容易），尤其是那些小餐馆的广告，例如“拐角就到”、“吃饭的好地方”等等。你找不到任何确凿的记录，证明有任何确定无疑的人曾亲口说过“拐角就到”，更不会说“吃饭的好地方”这样的话，尤其不会对使用这类文字的餐馆说这样的话。eDN中国英语学习网 eDN中国英语学习网 eDN中国英语学习网 破折号是一种方便的手段，风格轻松随意，颇有游戏的味道。它好像在说，你马上就要改变航向了，但并未完全脱离目前的航道——只是你别忘了你在这儿用过一个破折号，所以你需要在表达完自己的意思之后添上第二个破折号，好让读者知道他又回到原航道了，或者像我在这里所做的，用句号结束全句。eDN中国英语学习网 eDN中国英语学习网 eDN中国英语学习网 Notes on PunctuationeDN中国英语学习网 eDN中国英语学习网 Lewis ThomaseDN中国英语学习网 eDN中国英语学习网 There are no precise rules about punctuation….eDN中国英语学习网 The commas are the most useful and usable of all the stops. It is highly important to put them in place as you go along. If you try to come back after doing a paragraph and stick them in the various spots that tempt you, you will discover that they tend to swarm like minnows into all sorts of crevices whose existence you hadn’t realized and before you know it the whole long sentence becomes immobilized and lashed up squirming in commas. Better to use them sparingly, and with affection, precisely when the need for each one arises, nicely, by itself.eDN中国英语学习网 I have grown fond of semicolons in recent years. The semicolon tells you that there is still some question about the preceding full sentence; something needs to be added; it reminds you sometimes of the Greek usage. It is almost always a greater pleasure to come across a semicolon than a period. The period tells you that that is that; if you didn’t get all the meaning you wanted or expected, anyway you got all the writer intended to parcel out and now you have to move along. But with a semicolon there you get a pleasant little feeling of expectancy; there is more to come; read on; it will get clearer.eDN中国英语学习网 Colons are a lot less attractive, for several reasons: firstly, they give you the feeling of being rather ordered around, or at least having your nose pointed in a direction you might not be inclined to take if left to yourself, and, secondly, you suspect you’re in for one of those sentences that will be labeling the points to be made: firstly, secondly and so forth, with the implication that you haven’t sense enough to keep track of a sequence of notions without having them numbered. Also, many writers use this system loosely and incompletely, starting out with number one and number two as though counting off on their fingers but then going on and on without the succession of labels you’ve been led to expect, leaving you floundering about searching for the ninthly or seventeenthly that ought to be there but isn’t.eDN中国英语学习网 Exclamation points are the most irritating of all. Look! They say, look at what I just said! How amazing is my thought! It is like being forced to watch someone else’s small child jumping up and down crazily in the center of the living room shouting to attract attention. If a sentence really has something of importance to say, something quite remarkable, it doesn’t need a mark to point it out. And if it is really, after all, a banal sentence needing more zing, the exclamation point simply emphasizes its banality!eDN中国英语学习网 Quotation marks should be used honestly and sparingly, when there is a genuine quotation at hand, and it is necessary to be very rigorous about the words enclosed by the marks. If something is to be quoted, the exact words must be used. If part of it must be left out because of space limitations, it is good manners to insert three dots to indicate the omission, but it is unethical to do this if it means connecting two thoughts which the original author did not intend to have tied together. Above all, quotation marks should not be used for ideas that you’d like to disown, things in the air so to speak, Nor should they be put in place around clichés; if you want to use a cliché you must take full responsibility for it yourself and not try to job it off on anon. or on society. The most objectionable misuse of quotation marks, but one which illustrates the dangers of misuse in ordinary prose, is seen in advertising, especially in advertisements for small restaurants, for example “just around the corner,” or “a good place to eat.” No single, identifiable, citable person ever really said, for the record, “just around the corner,” much less “a good place to eat,” least likely of all for restaurants of the type that use this type of prose.eDN中国英语学习网 The dash is a handy device, informal and essentially playful, telling that you’re about to take off on a different tack but still in some way connected with the present course—only you have to remember that the dash is there, and either put a second dash at the end of the notion to let the reader know that he’s back on course, or else end the sentence, as here, with a period.eDN中国英语学习网
