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英语语法:220 Parentheses, Brackets, and Braces

时间:2010-11-19 02:04来源:互联网 提供网友:jk6218   字体: [ ]
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Grammar Girl here.
Today guest-writer Bonnie Trenga will help us talk about three punctuation1 marks: one you undoubtedly2 know how to use, another you possibly misuse3, and yet another you’ve likely never used. If you’ve ever wondered when to favor parentheses4 over square brackets and when to stick in a pair of curly braces5, listen on.
The podcast edition of this article was sponsored by GoToAssist Express. You can instantly connect with customers to solve their technical issues. TryGo to Assist Express for free for 30 days. VisitGoToAssist.com/techpodcast for details on this free, 30-day trial.
Parentheses
You’re probably well versed6 in how to use those sideways eyebrow7 thingies, better known as parentheses. First, remember that a pair of them is called “parentheses,” whereas a single one is a “parenthesis8.” You may want to review episode 222 in which we compared parentheses to dashes and commas. For now, let’s just say that parentheses mainly enclose information that is not vital to a sentence. No matter what you put within parentheses, your sentence must still make sense if you delete them and everything inside. Note that you are allowed to put both partial sentences and complete sentences within parentheses. But no more than a whole paragraph, please, requests authority Brian Garner9 (1).
Before we move on, we need to address one issue: how to use terminal punctuation marks with parentheses. If your sentence starts with an opening parenthesis, then what’s inside your parentheses is a complete sentence. You must therefore ensure that the terminal punctuation mark, such as a period, question mark, or exclamation10 point, goes inside the closing parenthesis: “(I knew he wouldn’t want to do that.)”. If what’s within the parentheses is only a partial sentence, put the terminal punctuation outside instead: “I moved to America when I was 10 (in 1980).”
For the most part, these two rules seem fairly easy to understand—complete sentence: terminal punctuation inside; partial sentence: terminal punctuation outside. However, when you have a sentence that contains another complete sentence within parentheses, the punctuation could become confusing. Let’s say you want to add the complete sentence “I can’t believe it!” inside parentheses within another complete sentence. In this case, the exclamation point would go inside the closing parenthesis and then a period would go outside: “I ate the whole box of donuts (I can’t believe it!).”
That works, but I often recommend making the sentence inside parentheses a complete sentence on its own that follows the first sentence. Make sure you have a reason for putting it in parentheses.
Square Brackets
Now it’s time to introduce our potentially misused11 friends: square brackets. Brackets, which are one long line short of a standing-up rectangle, appear on the keyboard to the right of the letter “p.” They seem less common than their parenthetical cousins, though you do sometimes see both punctuation marks within the same sentence. Use brackets in sentences where you want to put parentheses within parentheses. Since two parentheses in a row would be confusing, you bookend your parentheses with brackets. So, the order is opening parenthesis, opening bracket, closing bracket, closing parenthesis. For example, you would write “They are getting married (they love each other [of course!]).”*
According to Garner, square brackets also come in handy for subsequent authors and editors who want to “enclose comments, corrections, explanations, interpolations, notes, or translations that were not in the original text” (2).
If you are in a scholarly field, you may find yourself writing a paper and quoting an expert, and perhaps you discover you need to clarify what the expert said. Bill Walsh in Lapsing12 into a Comma (3) warns, “Bracketed material should clarify language, not replace it….” You shouldn’t alter what the original writer wrote, so use brackets around your clarification. For example, if the original quotation13 reads, “This enterprising paleontologist discovered a new species of plant eater,” you shouldn't change it to “[Bob Jones] discovered a new species of plant eater.” You’d have to quote the material this way: “This enterprising paleontologist [Bob Jones] discovered a new species of plant eater.” (Note also that you wouldn’t be allowed to use parentheses around the name you add, because it would seem—incorrectly—like an aside that appeared in the original text.)
Remember, though, that brackets differ from the three dots called an ellipsis14, which you use when you are deleting extraneous15 words from a direct quotation. If you want to learn more about an ellipsis, see the recent Grammar Girl episode on ellipses16.
Sometimes you might decide to start a sentence by quoting someone, but the quotation does not include a capital letter. If your work is informal or not overly formal, it is acceptable to just change the lowercase letter to a capital one. On the other hand, scholars who must be “rigorously accurate” (4) are required to use a set of brackets around the capital letter they are changing. For example, if the quoted word is “it,” with a lowercase “i,” and a rigorously accurate scholar wants the word “it” to start a sentence, she would have to write bracket-uppercase I-bracket-lowercase t: “[I]t.”
The last place you are likely to encounter square brackets is around the Latin word “sic,” which means “thus.” You use it—in italics—when you’re quoting someone who has made an error, such as a misstatement of fact or a spelling mistake. You should use bracket-sic-bracket only when you need to aid readers (5); you don’t want to show off or seem pedantic17 by constantly pointing out others’ failings. Admittedly, though, we grammar types understand this urge to correct others.
Braces
Our last foray into punctuation marks leads us to what are known as curly braces. To type one, press the shift key as you punch the bracket key, to the right of the letter “p.” I must say I have never used curly braces. In fact, although they looks like punctuation marks, they really aren’t (6), at least not in the way you can type them yourself.
They’re on your keyboard because they have specialized18 uses in mathematics and science. For example, they are used to enclose the third level of nested equations when parentheses and brackets have already been used for the first two levels (7).
Big curly braces that span multiple lines are sometimes used to enclose groups of words that belong together (8) or triplet lines in poetry, but your keyboard doesn’t have those big curly braces that span multiple lines.
Summary
Today you’ve learned how to use various curved, square, and curly squiggles within your sentences. Be sure to keep them straight!
 


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1 punctuation 3Sbxk     
n.标点符号,标点法
参考例句:
  • My son's punctuation is terrible.我儿子的标点符号很糟糕。
  • A piece of writing without any punctuation is difficult to understand.一篇没有任何标点符号的文章是很难懂的。
2 undoubtedly Mfjz6l     
adv.确实地,无疑地
参考例句:
  • It is undoubtedly she who has said that.这话明明是她说的。
  • He is undoubtedly the pride of China.毫无疑问他是中国的骄傲。
3 misuse XEfxx     
n.误用,滥用;vt.误用,滥用
参考例句:
  • It disturbs me profoundly that you so misuse your talents.你如此滥用自己的才能,使我深感不安。
  • He was sacked for computer misuse.他因滥用计算机而被解雇了。
4 parentheses 2dad6cf426f00f3078dcec97513ed9fe     
n.圆括号,插入语,插曲( parenthesis的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Irregular forms are given in parentheses . 不规则形式标注在括号内。
  • Answer these questions, using the words in parentheses. Put the apostrophe in the right place. 用句后括号中的词或词组来回答问题,注意撇号的位置。 来自《简明英汉词典》
5 braces ca4b7fc327bd02465aeaf6e4ce63bfcd     
n.吊带,背带;托架( brace的名词复数 );箍子;括弧;(儿童)牙箍v.支住( brace的第三人称单数 );撑牢;使自己站稳;振作起来
参考例句:
  • The table is shaky because the braces are loose. 这张桌子摇摇晃晃,因为支架全松了。
  • You don't need braces if you're wearing a belt! 要系腰带,就用不着吊带了。
6 versed bffzYC     
adj. 精通,熟练
参考例句:
  • He is well versed in history.他精通历史。
  • He versed himself in European literature. 他精通欧洲文学。
7 eyebrow vlOxk     
n.眉毛,眉
参考例句:
  • Her eyebrow is well penciled.她的眉毛画得很好。
  • With an eyebrow raised,he seemed divided between surprise and amusement.他一只眉毛扬了扬,似乎既感到吃惊,又觉有趣。
8 parenthesis T4MzP     
n.圆括号,插入语,插曲,间歇,停歇
参考例句:
  • There is no space between the function name and the parenthesis.函数名与括号之间没有空格。
  • In this expression,we do not need a multiplication sign or parenthesis.这个表达式中,我们不需要乘号或括号。
9 garner jhZxS     
v.收藏;取得
参考例句:
  • He has garnered extensive support for his proposals.他的提议得到了广泛的支持。
  • Squirrels garner nuts for the winter.松鼠为过冬储存松果。
10 exclamation onBxZ     
n.感叹号,惊呼,惊叹词
参考例句:
  • He could not restrain an exclamation of approval.他禁不住喝一声采。
  • The author used three exclamation marks at the end of the last sentence to wake up the readers.作者在文章的最后一句连用了三个惊叹号,以引起读者的注意。
11 misused 8eaf65262a752e371adfb992201c1caf     
v.使用…不当( misuse的过去式和过去分词 );把…派作不正当的用途;虐待;滥用
参考例句:
  • He misused his dog shamefully. 他可耻地虐待自己的狗。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • He had grossly misused his power. 他严重滥用职权。 来自《简明英汉词典》
12 lapsing 65e81da1f4c567746d2fd7c1679977c2     
v.退步( lapse的现在分词 );陷入;倒退;丧失
参考例句:
  • He tried to say, but his voice kept lapsing. 他是想说这句话,可已经抖得语不成声了。 来自辞典例句
  • I saw the pavement lapsing beneath my feet. 我看到道路在我脚下滑过。 来自辞典例句
13 quotation 7S6xV     
n.引文,引语,语录;报价,牌价,行情
参考例句:
  • He finished his speech with a quotation from Shakespeare.他讲话结束时引用了莎士比亚的语录。
  • The quotation is omitted here.此处引文从略。
14 ellipsis LjUzg     
n.省略符号,省略(语法结构上的)
参考例句:
  • In this textbook we will tolerate a certain amount of ellipsis.在这本书中我们允许一些简化。
  • There is an ellipsis of "that" in that sentence.那个句子省略了"that"。
15 extraneous el5yq     
adj.体外的;外来的;外部的
参考例句:
  • I can choose to ignore these extraneous thoughts.我可以选择无视这些外来的想法。
  • Reductant from an extraneous source is introduced.外来的还原剂被引进来。
16 ellipses 80016ca1ead584db2209b9bdd97c184f     
n.椭园,省略号;椭圆( ellipse的名词复数 );(语法结构上的)省略( ellipsis的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • The planets move around the sun in ellipses. 各行星围绕太阳按椭圆形运转。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Summations are almost invariably indicated ellipses instead of the more prevalent sigma notation. 在表示“连加”的式子中,几乎一成不变地使用省略号来代替更为流行的“∑”符号。 来自辞典例句
17 pedantic jSLzn     
adj.卖弄学问的;迂腐的
参考例句:
  • He is learned,but neither stuffy nor pedantic.他很博学,但既不妄自尊大也不卖弄学问。
  • Reading in a pedantic way may turn you into a bookworm or a bookcase,and has long been opposed.读死书会变成书呆子,甚至于成为书橱,早有人反对过了。
18 specialized Chuzwe     
adj.专门的,专业化的
参考例句:
  • There are many specialized agencies in the United Nations.联合国有许多专门机构。
  • These tools are very specialized.这些是专用工具。
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