En esta entrada vamos a ver los signos de puntuación de la lengua inglesa y sus diferencias, a grandes rasgos, con la española. Igual que en la entrada anterior, en la que hablé de los signos de puntuación de la lengua alemana, he decidido escribirlos en su propio idioma, pero os describo las diferencias en lengua española:
Diferencias de colocación de signos de puntuación españoles e ingleses:
En inglés se omiten los signos de interrogación y exclamación (o de admiración) al comienzo del enunciado.
El comienzo de las cartas en inglés puede llevar coma o dos puntos y en español sólo dos puntos: Dear Sir, /Muy señor mío:.
En inglés se utilizan los dos puntospara expresar las horas, pero en español se prefiere sólo un punto: At 10:15 / "A las 10.15".
En inglés se usa el guión para formar palabras compuestas, y el español lo evita: anti-freezer / anticongelante.
Las conjunciones copulativas inglesas suelen ir precedidas de coma, pero no así en español: He turned his bed over, and shook it / Revolvió su cama de arriba a abajo y la sacudió.
Los números enteros se separan con comay los decimales con punto mientras que en español ocurre lo contrario: 1, 340 / 1.340.
En lo referente a los dos puntos, su uso es parecido al español para su uso al introducir una lista de elementos en una frase: These are the main issues: politics, social well-being, climate and the geography of the area. Estos son los temas principales: la política, el bienestar social, el clima, y la geografía de la zona.
Punctuation means making points. It means putting the right kind of points in the right place so as to mark the exact length and meaning of sentences. Proper punctuation is essential in written English to enable the reader to understand what it is you are trying to say. Spacing with punctuation is also important to make your writing readable, and at the end, writing and speaking correctly gives you the appearance of credibility if you are attempting to build a reputation as an expert in your profession. Let’s start with the fourteen punctuation marks in English Grammar:
Full stop (UK) or period (US) (.)
This little “point” goes at the end of declarative sentences, other statements and abbreviations. We are leaving now. Madison Ave.
Comma (,)
This punctuation mark indicates separations of ideas or elements within the structure of a sentence. It is also used in letter writing after the salutation and closing. Peter wanted the blue, yellow, and black fish. Dear Uncle Tom, We went to the movie, and we went to the pup.
Colon (:)
A colon is used after a word introducing a quotation, an explanation, an example, series, after the salutation of a business letter and to separate out the hour and minute: 12:30 p.m. There are two main shopping areas in Nottingham: Broadmarsh Centre and Victoria Centre.
Semicolon (;)
For semicolon click here: http://theoatmeal.com/comics/semicolon
Hyphen (-) and Dash
A dash is a symbol used in writing or printing to connect continuing or inclusive numbers or elements of a compound adjective when either of the elements is an open compound: 1885 – 1968. Princeton – New York trains.
Hyphens are used to connect words or syllables, or to divide words into parts. Mrs. Smith – Reynolds. back – to – back
Parentheses ( )
Parentheses are curved notations used to contain further thoughts or qualifying remarks. The can be replaced by commas without changing the meaning in most cases. Mary and Jane (who are actually sisters) both have blond hair.
Brackets []
Brackets are the squared off notations used for technical explanations.
Braces {}
Braces are used to contain two or more lines of text or listed items to show that they are considered as a unit. They are not commonplace in most writing, but can be seen in computer programming to show what should be contained within the same lines.
Apostrophe (‘)
An apostrophe is used to indicate the omission of a letter or letters from a word, the possessive case, or the plurals of numbers, letters, and abbreviations. Sara’s dog bites. Sixteen people were born on dates with 7’s in them.
Quotation mark (“”)
Either of a pair of punctuation marks used primarily to mark the beginning and end of a passage attributed to another and repeated word for word, but also to indicate meanings or glosses and to indicate the unusual or dubious status of a word. Single quotation (‘ ‘) are used most frequently for quotes within quotes.
Ellipses (…)
The ellipses is represented by three periods which should be used in writing to indicate an omission, especially of letters or words. They are frequently used within quotations to jump from one phrase to another, omitting unnecessary words that do not interfere with the meaning.
Question mark (?)
Used to indicate a direct question when placed at the end of a sentence.
Exclamation mark (!)
To express a sudden outcry or add emphasis. “Holy cow!” My mother-in-law’s rants make me furious!
Fuentes:
http://www.learnenglish.de/grammar/punctuationtext.htm
http://www.ompersonal.com.ar/omgrammar/signosdepuntuacion.htm
http://www.monografias.com/trabajos81/la-ortografia-puntuacion-ingles/la-ortografia-puntuacion-ingles2.shtml
http://enlalunadebabel.com/2012/06/18/la-puntuacion-inglesa-y-espanola-similitudes-y-diferencias/
http://vocatic.com/regla-de-puntuacion-en-ingles
http://www.stage-door.org/stampact/punc.html
http://ec.europa.eu/translation/bulletins/puntoycoma/128/pyc1284_es.htm
http://www.learnenglish.de/grammar/punctuationtext.htm
http://www.ompersonal.com.ar/omgrammar/signosdepuntuacion.htm
http://www.monografias.com/trabajos81/la-ortografia-puntuacion-ingles/la-ortografia-puntuacion-ingles2.shtml
http://enlalunadebabel.com/2012/06/18/la-puntuacion-inglesa-y-espanola-similitudes-y-diferencias/
http://vocatic.com/regla-de-puntuacion-en-ingles
http://www.stage-door.org/stampact/punc.html
http://ec.europa.eu/translation/bulletins/puntoycoma/128/pyc1284_es.htm