如果你的目标是写小说,应该看原版The Elements of Style (免费下载):
http://www.jlakes.org/ch/web/The-elements-of-style.pdf
为了“完整”性,我们继续用The Elements of Style 。不喜欢看英文原著的,凑合着看我的注解(不是翻译)。
III A Few Matters of Form
第三部分有点“杂”。我只挑几个科技英语写作可能会用到东东。
Quotations. Formal quotations cited as documentary evidence are introduced by a colon and enclosed in quotation marks.
注解:在文件中,正式的引号前面有个冒号。看下面的例子。
The United States Coast Pilot has this to say of the place: "Bracy Cove, 0.5 mile eastward of Bear Island, is exposed to southeast winds, has a rocky and uneven bottom, and is unfit for anchorage."
A quotation grammatically in apposition or the direct object of a verb is preceded by a comma and enclosed in quotation marks.
注解:短文、小说中常常是这样用引号的:
I am reminded of the advice of my neighbor, "Never worry about your heart till it stops beating." (逗号+引号)
Mark Twain says, "A classic is something that everybody wants to have read and nobody wants to read." (逗号+引号。注意了,不是冒号+引号)
When a quotation is followed by an attributive phrase, the comma is enclosed within the quotation marks.
注解: 如果“发言人”是在引号后面出现,后半个引号的前面,是逗号。看下面的例子。
"I can"t attend," she said. (逗号+后半个引号)
Typographical usage dictates that the comma be inside the marks, though logically it often seems not to belong there.
注解:美式英语,逗号是在后半个引号前面,尽管你可能看着别扭。请看:
"The Fish," "Poetry," and "The Monkeys" are in Marianne Moore"s Selected Poems.
匆匆忙忙注解完第三部分,希望对你有帮助。
[科技英语写作基础(系列):大纲(1)
http://blog.sciencenet.cn/home.php?mod=space&uid=306792&do=blog&id=1146690
科技英语写作基础(系列):大纲(2)
http://blog.sciencenet.cn/home.php?mod=space&uid=306792&do=blog&id=1146716]
1. 语态(1)
2. 常用时态
3. 一些标点符号“规则”(句号、逗号,参考The Elements of StylePart I)
4. 一些语法“规则”(主语、谓语的一致性、变化多端的代词、分词短语的主人,参考The Elements of Style Part I)
5. 一些基本的写作“原则”(文章结构、段落、语态、简洁性等,参考The Elements of Style)
6. 修改、修改、再修改[简洁为上, see Chapter 7 Concision by Joseph/三种修饰语+两种“问题修饰语”,即悬空修饰语(p161)、错位修饰语/, see Chapter 8 Length by Joseph/逻辑性/一致性]
请大家多提意见。