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When punctuation (標(biāo)點(diǎn)) began, it was mainly to help people read out loud. Until a few hundred years
ago, not many people were taught to read, so there was a lot more reading out loud by the few people who
could.
To help those reading out loud in the old days, sign (符號(hào)) known as "points" were added to pages of
writing. Punctuation comes from the Latin word punctus, meaning "point". These points told readers when
to pause (暫停) or take a breath, and what to emphasize (加重).
In Europe from the early centuries AD, these points were widely used although not everybody used the
same points for the same thing. When printing was invented, printers had to be made more clearly about
what to put where, so that everyone was doing the same thing. Since that point, all sorts of punctuation
rules have been discov ered and invented.
Speech marks ".."
Speech marks or quotation marks are used to show that someone is speaking. The sort we have in English
today began to be widely used during the 18 century. Before that readers simply understood from the way a
sentence was written that someone was speaking although sometimes spoken words were underlined.
Comma, colon: period (full stop).
All three of these sorts of punctuation marks were given their Greek names by Aristophanes, a librarian
who lived in Byzantium in the 2'd century BC. They were marks on the page, each with a message to the
reader. Comma meant a short pause. Colon meant a medium (中等的) sized pause. Period meant a long pause.
Exclamation mark!
In the early days of punctuation, if you saw this sign, you were supposed to pause. Some people think
the exclamation mark began as what the Creek word JO looked like if it was turned 90 degrees. This word
means"Oh, gosh!" With the I on the top and the O under it, the sign as we know it today was developed.
Question mark?
In the middle age, a squiggle (圓弧) above a full stop was sometimes used to show the sentence was a
question and that a person's voice should go up at the end. By the 17" century it had turned into what we
call a question mark. The shape may have come from the letter Q short for that Latin quaestio, meaning
"question".
Writers make choices about punctuation because they think differently about sentences and words. It's
part of the personality of their writing. Some writers hate punc- tuation, but others love punctuation. So
whether you love or hate punctuation, the best advice may be to just enjoy it, play with it, think about it and
use it. It belongs (屬于) to the language and it belongs to you.
1. When did punctuation begin to be widely used, according to the passage?
A. In the 17th century.
B. In the 2nd century BC.
C. In the 18th century.
D. In the early centuries AD.
2. All punctuation rules were discovered and invented in order to ________.
A. help people read out loud
B. meet the need of printing
C. guide the way of writing
D. mention the spoken words
3. Which of the following is true?
A. A long pause comes after question mark.
B. Speech marks were named by a librarian.
C. Question mark comes from a Latin word.
D. The shape of a word makes exclamation mark.
4. What's the problem about punctuation today?
A. People have completely different ideas about it.
B. Not many people are taught to use it correctly.
C. It has different meanings to different people.
D. Sometimes spoken words must be underlined.
wing is TRUE?
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