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Hello! Today on Ask a Teacher we answer a question about punctuation marks from Luay in Syria.
大家好! 今天的《名师答疑》，我们回答来自叙利亚的卢埃提出的关于标点符号的问题。
I hope you can tell me about the difference between punctuation marks such as the semicolon, the colon and the comma and between round brackets and square brackets.
我希望你能告诉我分号、冒号和逗号之间的区别，以及圆括号和方括号之间的区别。
Luay, Syria.
卢埃，叙利亚。
Dear Luay, thank you for writing with this very interesting question.
亲爱的卢埃，感谢你写下这个非常有趣的问题。
Even native speakers have trouble with these punctuation marks when writing English.
即使是母语人士在英文写作中也会遇到这些标点符号的问题。
Let us begin with the simplest one, the comma.
让我们从最简单的逗号开始。
First, you need to understand the sentence: it is a group of words with a subject and a verb that expresses a complete thought.
首先，你需要理解什么是句子：句子是一组带有主语和动词的词，表达了一个完整的意思。
Another name we give to sentences is "independent clause."
句子的另一个名字是“独立子句”。
That means the group of words forms a sentence by itself.
也就是一组单词本身构成一个句子。
As you can guess, there is another kind of word group that cannot stand alone.
你可能会猜到，还有一些单词不能单独存在。
We call that a "dependent clause."
我们称之为“从属子句”。
The most common use of a comma is to separate an independent clause and a dependent clause.
逗号最常见的用法是分隔独立子句和从属子句。
When we read the examples in this lesson, we will say the punctuation marks out loud so listeners can understand where they belong.
当我们阅读本期课程的例句时，我们会读出标点符号，以便听众能够理解它们所在的位置。
Every Thursday, VOA has a new Everyday Grammar lesson.
每周四，美国之音都会上一堂新的日常语法课。
The independent clause is "VOA has a new Everyday Grammar lesson."
独立子句是“美国之音都会上一堂新的日常语法课。
The dependent clause, "Every Thursday," is separated by a comma.
从属子句“每周四”用逗号隔开。
The colon is two dots, one over the other.
冒号是两个点，一个在另一个上面。
It has three main uses.
它有三个主要用途。
One is to introduce a list of things.
其一是引出一系列事物。
The part of the sentence before the colon should be an independent clause.
冒号之前的句子部分应该是一个独立子句。
Here is an example:
这里有一个例句：
Ashton likes only three kinds of fruit: apples, bananas and cherries.
阿什顿只喜欢三种水果：苹果、香蕉和樱桃。
You should not use a colon when the list is part of the independent clause, as in:
当列举的事物是独立子句的一部分时，你不能使用冒号，比如：
Ashton likes apples, bananas and cherries.
阿什顿喜欢苹果、香蕉和樱桃。
Note that these things are separated by commas but there is no comma before "and."
请注意，这些事物之间用逗号分隔，但and前面没有逗号。
That is a debated subject we will not get into today.
这是一个有争议的话题，我们今天先不讨论。
You can also use a colon between two independent clauses when the second one explains the first.
当第二个独立子句解释第一个独立子句时，也可以在两个子句之间加一个冒号。
We ate all of the ice cream: it was too hot this afternoon.
我们把所有的冰淇淋都吃光了：今天下午太热了。
Third, you can use a colon to emphasize a phrase or word at the end of a sentence:
第三，你可以在句子末尾用冒号来强调一个短语或单词：
After hours of work, we saw what we wanted: a clean house.
干了几个小时的活，我们看到了我们想要的东西：一所干净的房子。
Moving on to the semicolon, you may say it looks like a period or a dot above a comma.
继续说分号，你可能会说它看起来像逗号上面加一个句号或圆点。
We use a semicolon to connect two independent clauses that have related subjects.
我们用分号连接两个主语相关的独立子句。
For example, I think we should study in the bookstore; my friend works there.
例如，我认为我们应该去书店学习，我的朋友在那里工作。
You should never use a comma to connect two independent clauses.
切勿使用逗号连接两个独立的子句。
Note that the semicolon takes the place of any conjunction that might connect two independent clauses.
请注意，两个独立子句只能用分号来连接。
A good test of whether you have used the semicolon correctly is to replace it with a conjunction, that is, "or," "for," "and" or "but."
检验分号用法是否正确的一个好办法是用一个连词来替换，也就是or、for、and和but。
Here is a sentence with a semicolon between the two independent clauses:
这两个独立子句之间有一个分号：
The cat came in the door; it was carrying a mouse.
猫进了门，它带着一只老鼠。
When we replace the semicolon with "and" we no longer need to use the semicolon.
当我们用and替换分号时，就不再需要使用分号。
The cat came in the door and it was carrying a mouse.
猫进了门而且它带着一只老鼠。
Your last question was about the marks you call round and square brackets.
你的最后一个问题是关于你所说的圆括号和方括号的标点。
The round ones are called parentheses.
圆的叫做圆括号。
We use them to add some information to help explain what we have written.
我们使用圆括号来添加一些信息，帮助解释我们所写的内容。
When reading them aloud, we say "open parentheses" for the one on the left side and "close parentheses" for the opposite one, on the right.
朗读时，左边的一半会被读作“括弧”，右边的一半读作“括弧完”。
For example, I opened a can of food for Makeda (the dog) and put it in a dish.
例如，我为Makeda(狗)打开了一罐狗粮，然后把狗粮倒进了一个盘子里。
The square brackets have several uses.
方括号有几种用途。
They are used to put comments or information into direct quotations, to identify errors in text, and to add more information within something that is already in parentheses.
它们用于将注释或信息放入直接引语中、识别文本中的错误，并在括号中添加更多信息。
Here are examples of the brackets in action:
以下是方括号起作用的例子：
His mother said, "Look, this letter [it was from the university] came for you.
他的母亲说：“看，这封信[来自大学]是给你的。"
Alex picked up the bag (he thought it held more water [it only had empty bottles]) and shook it.
亚历克斯拿起袋子(他以为袋子里还有水[里面只有空瓶子])，然后摇了摇。
You may also see brackets around a Latin word, [sic] showing there was a mistaken word in what someone else wrote.
你也可能会看到一个拉丁语单词被方括号括起来，(原文如此)，表明其他人写的东西中有一个错误的单词。
I hope this answers your question, Luay.
希望这能回答你的问题，卢埃。
And that's Ask a Teacher. I'm Jill Robbins.
以上就是本期《名师答疑》。吉尔·罗宾斯为您播报。
