關於標點符號的背景知識
標點符號是人發明出來的,目的是讓讀者在閱讀文字時,更容易理解句子的結構。
標點並非語言自然的一部份,而是寫作的一部分。因為它並不是一個語言自然文法結構的一部分,所以,當我們討論標點符號時,說的其實只是它們在寫作時的「用法習慣」。
理解這點十分重要,因為人們有時會遵循不同的用法習慣來使用標點,或出於某些原因而故意不去遵循那些用法習慣,例如某些報紙雜誌可能會特意使用某種有別於常規習慣的「內部風格」(house style)。
在寫作中使用標點符號,目的是幫助我們在書寫和閱讀時更容易解構句子,所有用法習慣也是為此而生成的。所謂「正確」的用法,就是說,用了某標點後,令句子更容易理解。
相反,如果你使用標點符號後,令句子結構更難理解,便不可稱之為「正確」了。
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(English version)
A note about punctuation
Punctuation is a human invention whose purpose is to make sentences easier to understand in writing.
Punctuation is not actually part of the natural language. That’s why, when we talk about English grammar, we don’t need to think about punctuation.
When we talk about punctuation, we are only talking about “usage conventions.”
It is important to understand this because sometimes people follow different conventions for punctuation or deliberately avoid following certain conventions for different reasons. For example, some magazines might have a certain “house style” that differs slightly from conventional use.
The main thing to understand about punctuation convention in general is that its purpose is to make the structure of sentences easier to “break down” in writing and reading.
All the conventions that we will talk about will serve this purpose.
Conversely, if you use a punctuation mark, but the result is that the sentence is harder to read, then that is definitely not a “correct” use.
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