如何在写作中正确使用冒号和分号（实习生艾莉）

Hello.

大家好。

I'm Oli.

我是奥利。

Welcome to Oxford Online English!

欢迎来到牛津在线英语课程！

In this lesson, you can learn about using colons and semicolons in writing.

在本课中，大家将要学习如何在写作中使用冒号和分号。

First, let's look at using colons.

首先，让我们看看冒号的使用。

Colons have one main job: they introduce specific examples or explanations.

冒号有一个主要功能：用于介绍特定的例子或解释。

Let's look.

让我们看看吧。

He had one problem: there was no way to get there in time.

他有一个问题：没有办法及时赶到那里。

So in this sentence, we mention something general in the first part of the sentence, a problem.

所以在这个句子中，我们在句子的第一部分提到了一些一般的东西，也就是一个问题。

Then we give specific details in the second part, after the colon.

然后我们在冒号之后的第二部分给出具体细节。

There's just one rule here: do everything I tell you.

这里只有一条规则：照我说的做。

Again, we mention something general in the first part, one rule.

同样地，我们在第一部分提到了一般的东西，一个规则。

Then we say what it is, specifically, in the second part of the sentence.

然后在句子的第二部分，我们具体地说这是什么。

A good way to remember this is that we put a general idea before the colon and then give a specific example or a more detailed explanation after the colon.

有一个很好的方法可以记住这一点，我们在冒号前放的是大致的意思，然后在冒号后给出一个具体的例子或更详细的解释。

You can also use colons to introduce a list of items.

你还可以使用冒号来介绍一系列的东西。

For example, "We've invited a small number of people: Bill, Emma, Rachel, and so on." Or, "Tolstoy wrote several books, other than 'War and Peace': 'Anna Karenina', 'The Cossacks', 'Resurrection', and so on." Finally, you can use colons to introduce speech in quotes, like, "He said: 'Don't talk to me about this again,'" or, "They shouted: 'Be careful. Don't get too close to the edge.'" In this case, it's not necessary to use a colon.

例如，“我们邀请了一小部分人：比尔、艾玛、瑞秋等等”。或者，“除了《战争与和平》，托尔斯泰还写了几本书：《安娜·卡列尼娜》、《哥萨克人》、《复活》等等。”最后，你可以用冒号加引号来引入话语，比如，“他说：‘不要再和我谈论这个了’”，或者是“他们喊道：‘小心点。不要离边缘太近。’”在这种情况下，不一定要使用冒号。

You can also use a comma.

你也可以使用逗号。

There's no difference in which you use.

使用哪一个并没有区别。

It's mostly a question of personal style.

主要是个人风格的问题。

After a colon, it's possible to use a small letter or a capital letter.

冒号后，可以使用小写字母或大写字母。

If you use a colon to introduce what someone said, you should generally use a capital letter.

如果你用冒号来引入某人说的话，通常应该用大写字母。

If you use a colon to introduce an example or an explanation, you can choose to use a small letter or a capital.

如果你用冒号来引入一个例子或解释，你可以选择用小写字母或大写字母。

Using a capital letter is more common in American English, while in UK English, we almost always use a small letter.

在美国英语中使用大写字母更常见，而在英国英语中，我们几乎总是使用小写字母。

Next, let's look at when not to use a colon.

接下来，让我们看看什么时候不能使用冒号。

We said that a colon has one main job: introducing specific examples or specific explanations.

我们说过冒号有一个主要作用：介绍具体的例子或具体的解释。

We also said that a colon has one possible use, which is introducing what someone said.

我们还说过冒号有一个可能的用途，那就是引出某人说的话。

It's also important to know when not to use a colon.

知道什么时候不使用冒号也很重要。

Here are some common mistakes which English learners sometimes make with colon use.

以下是英语学习者在使用冒号时常犯的一些错误。

First, don't use a colon at the beginning of a letter or an email, for example, after someone's name.

首先，不要在信件或电子邮件的开头使用冒号，例如，在某人的名字之后。

Use a comma instead.

改用逗号。

Also, don't use a colon after a title or a heading, for example, at the top of an essay or an article or anything like that.

另外，不要在标题或标题后面使用冒号，例如，在一篇文章或类似的东西的最上面。

You don't normally need any punctuation at the end of the title.

通常不需要在标题末尾添加任何标点符号。

Next, let's look at using a semicolon.

接下来，让我们看看使用分号。

Like a colon, a semicolon has one main use.

像冒号一样，分号有一个主要用途。

We use it to show a connection between two complete sentences.

我们用它来表示两个完整句子之间的联系。

A semicolon is actually similar to a full stop.

分号实际上类似于句号。

It's generally the writer's choice whether to use a full stop or a semicolon.

通常由作者自己选择是使用句号还是分号。

A semicolon is used instead of a full stop because the writer wants to show that two ideas are more closely connected.

使用分号而不是句号，因为作者想表明两个想法联系更密切。

For example, "The population of Shanghai is around 24 million; Beijing has around 22 million people." Our second example, "We knew he was guilty; There was no evidence, however." You can see in both of these examples that the parts before and after the semicolon could both be full sentences.

例如，“上海的人口大约 2400 万；北京人口大约 2200 万。”我们的第二个例子是，“我们知道他有罪；然而却没有证据。”你可以在这两个例子中看到，分号前后的部分都可能是完整的句子。

So we could use a full stop in the first sentence, after 24 million, and then start a new sentence with the word "Beijing." That would be possible.

我们可以在 2400 万之后的第一句中使用句号，然后用“北京”这个词开始一个新句子。这是可以的。

Also, in the second sentence, we could use a full stop after "guilty," and then start a new sentence.

另外，在第二句中，我们可以在“有罪”之后使用句号，然后开始一个新句子。

The second important point is that both parts of the sentence, before and after the semicolon, are talking about a related topic.

第二个重点是句子的两个部分，分号前后，都在谈论一个相关的话题。

In the first example, both parts of the sentence are about the population of Chinese cities.

在第一个例子中，句子的两个部分都是关于中国城市的人口。

In the second, both parts are obviously about the same criminal case and the same person.

在第二个部分，这两个部分显然是关于同一个刑事案件和同一个人。

So we use a semicolon to show that two ideas or two sentences are very closely related or talking about the same topic.

所以我们用分号来表示两个想法或两个句子非常密切相关，或用来谈论同一个话题。

Often, when we want to join two sentences in English, we use a connecting word, like "and" or "but" or "therefore," for example.

通常，当我们想连接英语中的两个句子时，我们会使用连词，比如“and”、“but”或者是“therefore”。

When you join two sentences using a semicolon, you don't need to use a connecting word.

当你用分号连接两个句子时，并不需要使用连词。

However, if you use a connecting word to join two sentences, you sometimes need to use a semicolon and sometimes a comma.

然而，如果你用连词连接两个句子，那有时需要用分号，有时需要用逗号。

It depends what the connecting word is.

这取决于连词是什么。

To join sentences using "and," "or," "but," "yet," or "while," you should use a comma.

使用“and”、“or”、“but”、“yet”或“while”连接的句子，应该使用逗号。

To join two sentences using "however," "therefore," "nevertheless," or "meanwhile," you should use a semicolon.

使用“however”、“therefore”、“nevertheless”或“meanwhile”连接两个句子，则应该使用分号。

These lists are not complete.

列出来的并不完整。

There are other connecting words which require a comma or a semicolon.

还有其他连接词需要逗号或分号。

However, these are the most common, and the most important thing is to remember that for some connecting words, you need to use a comma, and for others, you have to use a semicolon.

但是这些是最常见的，最重要的是要记住，对于一些连词而言，你需要使用逗号，而对于其他词，则必须使用分号。

So here's our example from before, about the population of Shanghai or Beijing.

这是我们之前的例子，关于上海或北京的人口。

In this case, there's no connecting word.

在这种情况下，没有连词。

There's no word like "but" or "and" or "however." So we use a semicolon.

没有像“but”或”、“and”、和“however”这样的词。所以我们使用分号。

OK, here's the same sentence, but a little bit different.

好的，这是同样的句子，但是有一点不同。

In this case, we're using the connecting word "while." With "while," we need to use a comma.

在这个例子中，我们使用的是连词“while”。在“while”的情况下，我们需要使用逗号。

We can't use a semicolon in this case.

在这种情况下，我们不能使用分号。

Another example.

另一个例子。

This time, we use the connecting word "however." "However" is used with a semicolon.

这一次，我们使用连词“however”。“However”与分号一起使用。

A full stop would also be possible.

句号也是可以的。

Semicolons have one other use: they can be used in lists when the items on the lists contain commas.

分号还有一个用途：当列表中的物品包含逗号时，那就可以使用分号。

Usually when we make a list, we use commas to separate the items on the list.

通常当我们列一个列表时，我们用逗号分隔列表上的项目。

For example, "We need milk, eggs, sugar, and flour." We put a comma after each item, after milk, after eggs, and so on.

例如，“我们需要牛奶、鸡蛋、糖和面粉。”我们在每个物品后面加一个逗号，在牛奶后面，鸡蛋后面等等。

But if the items on your list are not just words, but phrases which include commas, we use semicolons to separate the items on the list.

但是，如果列表中的项目不仅仅是单词，而是包含逗号的短语，我们使用分号来分隔列表中的项目。

Let's take a look.

让我们一起来看看吧。

"We traveled to four cities: Santa Fe, which is in New Mexico; Denver, Colorado; Las Vegas, Nevada; and finally, Los Angeles in California." In this case, we use semicolons to separate the items on the list because the items on the list already include commas.

“我们去了四个城市：新墨西哥州的圣达菲、科罗拉多州丹佛、内华达州的拉斯维加斯，最后是加州的洛杉矶。"在这种情况下，我们使用分号分隔列表中的各个项目，因为列表中的项目已经包含逗号。

If we used commas to separate the items, it would be very confusing and difficult to read.

如果我们用逗号来分隔项目的话，那就会非常混乱，难以阅读。

Let's look at one more example.

让我们再看一个例子。

"Only three people showed up: Tom, the head of accounting; Maria, who works in the sales department; and Ellie, who's doing an internship here." Again, the items on the list are phrases which include commas.

“只来了三个人：会计主管汤姆；玛丽亚，在销售部门工作；还有艾莉，在这里实习。”同样地，列表的项目是包含逗号的短语。

So it's much clearer to use semicolons to separate the parts of the list.

因此，使用分号分隔列表的各个部分要清晰得多。

So both the colon and the semicolon are used to show a connection between two ideas, but they operate in a very different way.

所以冒号和分号都被用来表示两个想法之间的联系，但是它们的使用方式非常不同。

Let's finish by comparing the colon and the semicolon directly.

让我们用比较冒号和分号来结束本节课程吧。

So in these three examples, the only difference is the punctuation, but it does make a big difference to the meaning.

在这三个例子中，唯一的区别是标点符号，但它确实会对意思产生很大的影响。

In the first case, the full stop shows that there is no necessary connection between these two ideas.

在第一种情况下，句号表明这两个想法之间没有必要的联系。

We have a problem, and he isn't doing enough to help me.

我们有麻烦了，他没有尽力帮我。

These could be totally separate things.

这些可能是完全独立的事情。

In the second case, with the semicolon, it shows that the ideas are related somehow.

在第二种情况下，使用分号表明这些想法在某种程度上是相关的。

I'm talking about the same topic.

我说的是同一个话题。

In the third sentence with the colon, we mean that the problem is his attitude.

用冒号的第三句，我们的意思是问题所在就是他的态度。

The problem is that he isn't doing enough to help.

问题是他没有尽力帮忙。

To make this clearer, let's put these sentences in other words.

为了更清楚起见，让我们把这些句子换成其他单词。

In the first case, with the semicolon, we could also say, "We have a problem, and he isn't doing enough to help me with this problem." In the sentence with the colon, we could also say, "We have a problem, which is that he isn't doing enough to help me." If you can understand the difference here, that's a good sign.

在第一种情况下，用分号，我们也可以说：“我们遇到了一个问题，他没有努力来帮助我解决这个问题。”在冒号的句子中，我们也可以说：“我们有一个问题，那就是他尽力来帮助我。”如果你能理解这里的区别的话，那是一个很好的标志。

It means you really understand the difference between colons and semicolons.

这意味着你真正地理解了冒号和分号之间的区别。

OK, that's the end of the lesson.

好了，这节课到此结束。

I hope it was useful.

希望这节课是有用的。

If you're watching on YouTube, I suggest you see the full version of this lesson on our website.

如果你正在看 YouTube 的话，我建议你在我们的网站上看这节课的完整版本。

The full version includes text and exercises, so you can read and review the lesson.

完整版本包括课文和练习，所以你就可以阅读和复习课程。

You can also practice to check that you've understood.