Punctuation Has the Power to Completely
Change the Meaning of a Sentence
标点可以完全改变句子意思

1. Commas: Be careful about commas with essential and nonessential information

逗号：注意必要和非必要信息

Ask yourself, “Is the information essential or is it extra information that could be omitted”?
问你自己：“此信息必要吗, 或是否为多余信息进行省略” ?

If the information is essential, do NOT use commas.
如果此信息是重要的,不要使用逗号。

If the information is extra, nonessential, information, you MUST use commas.
如果此信息是附加的，不必要的，必须使用逗号。

正确用法：
The equipment that we used was made by the XX Company.

错误用法：
The equipment, which we used, was made by the XX Company.

正确用法：
The equipment, which was made in Shanghai, was very expensive.

Basic Rule for Comma Use
逗号使用的一般规则

Use commas + “which” for non-essential information.
用逗号+“which”表示非必要的信息
○This review, which can also be found online, covers research that started in 1999.
×This review that can also be found online covers research that started in 1999.

Use NO commas + “that” for essential information.
直接使用“that”表示必要的信息
○The research that I reviewed started in 1999.
×The research, that I reviewed, started in 1999.

2. Hyphens, en dash, em dash: Try not to overuse because they can slow down the reader
连字符，一字线，破折号尽量少用

Hyphens and Dashes

• Hyphen (-): Connector rather than in indicator of interruption or omission. 连接

  well-being, advanced-level

• En dash (–): Means “through.” 范围

  August 28–29; pp. 2–5.

• • Em dash (—): Separator to create a strong break in a sentence, like parentheses. 断开

  These two cities—that is, Beijing and Shanghai—are developing rapidly.

Practice Exercise 练习

1. The introduction is written on pages 3□6.
2. The CUJS conference will be held November 24□November 30 in Beijing, China.
3. Mr. Wang had tried asking, begging, and even demanding cooperation from his staff□all of whom were busy with other things□before he gave up and wrote the report himself.
4. No one□not even his professor□thought that his article would be published in Nature.
5. This is a well□known problem in organic chemistry.

3. Colons, Semicolons 冒号和分号

• Colon: for listing and defining, and indicates a stronger pause than a semicolon.
  冒号： 用于列举，定义，比分号停顿强
  The presentation covered three topics: grammar, punctuation, and format.

• Semicolon: for joining two related complete sentences (shows closer relationship than “.”).
  分号： 用于连接两个相关句子，比句号更具关联性
  The patient had no prior history of disease; however, he presented with many common symptoms.
  

4. Asian Symbols
亚洲字符：全角字符

• All Asian, full-space fonts should be changed to Western, half-space fonts for accurate display on
  other computers and for proper printing.
  全角字符亚洲字符应转换为西文（半角） 字符，以便准确显示和打印
  The biggest offenders:
  用错最多的符号：
  、 ， ； ： ( ) × % ＜ ＞ ℃
  

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