Questions tagged [punctuation]
For questions about punctuation marks in written Chinese.
39 questions
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How to type corner brackets on a Chromebook?
How do I type
"「" U+300C LEFT CORNER BRACKET
"」" U+300D RIGHT CORNER BRACKET
on a Chromebook?
Or is the only way via typing raw codes?
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How to type U+3001 IDEOGRAPHIC COMMA on a chromebook?
Sure, I can type
U+3002 IDEOGRAPHIC FULL STOP
U+FF0C FULLWIDTH COMMA
with no problem in the Chromebook's Text app,
using the ChromeOS Chinese input methods.
But how could there be no way to type
U+...
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Typing iteration (repetition) symbols
Is there a convention for typing the 匕-like iteration symbol seen here (several times near the center of the page, excluding the header)?
This is one of five iteration symbols I've come across in ...
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What are the punctuation symbols in early magazines?
While browsing a number of old magazines, I noticed what I would refer to as punctuations appear way too often to fill the function it does today. I know punctuation has not always been a part of ...
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Why put a comma in 告纣之罪于天,及殷民?
"(衅社，)告纣之罪于天,及殷民" This is from 《史记·鲁周公世家》.
There's a comma in this sentence in 中华书局点校本二十四史修订本. I also googled "告纣之罪于天及殷民", most of the results come back with a comma.
What is the ...
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Is it acceptable to add a 句号 (full stop 。) at the end of a sentence ending in a 省略号 (ellipsis ……)?
我去过了很多国家，日本、中国、美国、加拿大、印度……
郑丽杰, 刘悦, 21天政府HSK6级写作, p. 44. (photo; alt.)
In a section explaining Chinese punctuation, we have the above sentence. Importantly, the sentences doesn't end in a 句号. The ...
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How/why was western-style punctuation inherited into Mandarin?
How was it decided what aspects of Western language Mandarin would inherit and why?
Ex: Western punctuation (! . ?), left to right writing style (in the mainland at least), pinyin vs bopomofo, etc.
...
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How does Classical Chinese deal with vertical numbered lists and punctuation marks?
So I want to create a document in Chinese but there's just one problem:
How do ancient and modern day chinese deal with numbered lists while in vertical format and how do they use punctuation marks in ...
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usage of † and ⁜ in wiktionary when translating Chinese
I have come across with two symbols (that is † and ⁜ in wiktionary) but I don’t know what they mean.
Here is the link: https://en.m.wiktionary.org/wiki/子
Note:
someone has commented that if I can ...
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How to properly space Chinese with English and numbers in between?
I'm translating an application with help of an "informal" translator - a Chinese-American staff which seems unsure about some rules I'm trying to understand.
I understand that Chinese uses ...
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Why don't people use 專名號 to avoid ambiguity?
For example, consider the following sentence:
大多數真核細胞有高爾基體。
For those who are unfamiliar with biology, he/she may not know if 高爾基體 should be understood as (高爾)(基體) or (高爾基)(體)。Two avoid confusion, it ...
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How to type the Chinese ellipsis ⋯⋯ using Google Pinyin IME?
I've learned that "。。。" is incorrect in Chinese punctuation (see e.g. Chinese ellipsis marks), it should be "⋯⋯", called 省略号. I've just been copy/pasting this into my documents so far, but there's ...
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What did the original Tao Te Ching use for punctuation?
When you look at the Chinese versions of the Tao Te Ching online (here, here, and elsewhere), there are periods (。), commas, semicolons, question marks, and exclamation marks!
道可道，非常道。名可名，非常名。無名天地之始；...
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When are semi-colons used in Chinese?
I came across the following passage in Press-Ganging Able-Bodied Men:
And the text for reference:
王保长（笑）这个事情还是我替你办了就是。我先放出个谣言去，说芋子娃在前方打死毬了；再找个人把她的娃娃拐到外县去卖了他，断了她的这几门想法；然后请莫仙娘去劝她一下，那就保险……成功。（作态）
...
Mou某♦
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What usage do left tortoise shell brackets (〔) play in plays?
The beginning of Press-Ganging Able-Bodied Men《抓壮丁》has the following passage filled with three consecutive lines starting with left tortoise shell brackets (〔) :
and transcription:
〔中秋节前一天。
〔...
Mou某♦
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When should we use proper name mark and how to type it?
In Chinese writing, a proper name mark (專名號) is an underline used to mark proper names, such as the names of people, places, dynasties, organisations.
For example,
When we write/type Chinese, is it ...
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What are the characters for punctuation in older literature?
I'd like to be able to identify punctuation marks in older literature (to be aware of where sentences end basically), such as this exerpt from Chuanshan yishu quanji:
"...
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In my bullet list, is ...是个... [something]的 problematic, and do I need an "and"?
From my talk's slides, I have:
先结论...
对于给定m（即为确定的元素数量），m! #PLR(r,s,n;m)是个
- 三元多项式，
- 对称多项式(即#PLR(r,s,n;m)=#PLR(s,r,n;m)等)，
- 整数系数的，
- 3m次多项式。
(I have some students here helping ...
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Is the halfwidth ideographic comma (､) (U+FF64) ever used in Chinese punctuation?
My digital version of《现代汉语规范词典》seems to be using halfwidth ideographic commas, ､ (U+FF64).
Here's their definition for 巾:
名 用来擦､包或盖东西的小块织物
It looks like a poor attempt at a fullwidth ideographic ...
Mou某♦
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Usage of "│" (vertical bar) in Chinese?
The Chinese wikipedia page for vertical bars only talks about:
Math
Physics
Computing
In the book《成都方言》I'm seeing this type of xiehouyu with a vertical bar in the middle of the "注":
缸钵头的泥鳅儿——...
Mou某♦
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Commas, which one is proper?
I've seen both the western comma "," and the eastern comma "、“ used in Chinese before, although the "eastern comma" seems to be used more frequently (correct me if I'm wrong). Which is more proper to ...
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What to use instead of em-dash (U+2014), etc
em-dash: — (U+2014) looks a lot like 一 (U+4E00) in many fonts. What is typically used instead in Chinese print? Or do they just rely on context?
What other punctuation alternatives should I learn?
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Is it not correct to use 逗号 (punctuation) in a place where 顿号 should be used?
In so many cases I have used 逗号（，） to enumerate a list, which 顿号（、) should be used instead. For example:
我要去食品杂货店买苹果，香蕉，和西瓜。
However, the correct punctuation should be 顿号:
我要去食品杂货店买苹果、香蕉、和西瓜。
...
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Punctuation - Omiting part of a quote
In my native language we use '(...)' to indicate that part of the quote was omitted. For example, in the paragraph below I would like to omit the bolded part, how should I write it?
"在波兰，...
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Chinese ellipsis marks
How is an ellipsis 省略号 written in Chinese?
。。。
...
or
......
The only reference I can find on this is this word reference forum which states ....... This also says 6 dots.
E.g.,
在這裡輸入您的訊息.........
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Why is Western punctuation used in Chinese writing?
In Chinese writing full width versions of Western question marks and commas are used.
請問，你貴姓？
I've read that:
[...] the concept of modern standard punctuation was adapted in the
written ...
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How do you enter a half comma (顿号, dùnhào) with Google Pinyin IME and a French keyboard?
I have a laptop with a UK English version of Windows and a French keyboard (AZERTY...). I have been using the Google Pinyin IME for some time now but I can't figure out how to enter a "half comma&...
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Punctuation - 書名號 in writing a title and chapter of a documentation
It seems that 書名號 in English is called "Guillemet", I don't know if you knowing the English version makes it any better to understand.
I wanted to refer to a section/chapter within a user manual. ...
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Punctuation and Footnotes in Mandarin Chinese
I'm trying to translate a research paper into Mandarin Chinese and I was hoping I could get some insite on proper footnote placement around punctuation. For example， if I'm trying to footnote twice in ...
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What are the rules for using commas and periods in Chinese?
What are the rules for using commas （， 逗号） and periods （。 句号） in Chinese? In English I'm fairly confident of when to use commas and when to use periods. I learned in school what run-on sentences were ...
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Quotation Marks ("") and Angle Quotation Marks (《》)
Based on my recent observation, most people use "" to enclose a quote and use 《》 to enclose the name of a book (or a movie?). However, since I began my Chinese study, I have been learning to use 「」 as ...
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What's the difference between ，and 、
What's the difference between ，and 、 as they appear in some texts, like in this passage of the Zhuang Zi (end of the second part):
是萬物之化也，禹、舜之所紐也，伏戲、几蘧之所行終，而況散焉者乎！
Is it like comma and semicolon? Or ...
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Where should I place the comma in large numbers?
If writing for an exclusively Chinese audience, would the number 五萬 be written as 5,0000 or 50,000?
To flesh out the question, we could consider:
五千 5000 or 5,000
五萬 5,0000 or 50,000
...
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Meaning of "~~" at the end of a sentence
I see quite often a few "~" characters placed at the end of sentences, especially in e-mails, texts, and social networks.
Is this an informal exclamation or an emphasis mark?
For example, the ...
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When writing pin yin, should you use a question mark in sentences using "ma"?
你想吃饭吗？
Ni xiang chi fan ma ?
Is it redundant to use ma and a question mark? Doesn't ma make it a question in of itself? I am unclear on the correct approach here.
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How to mix Latin and Chinese script with style?
I am currently writing a Chinese translation for a webpage about a Go meeting. The section about how to get there contains a lot of mixed Chinese and Latin text:
地點
社團處所在 Lehrter Straße 53，附近有 ...
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When was punctuation introduced into Chinese?
I have seen some old Chinese books. The words flowed from top to bottom on the page and there was no punctuation.
How did readers know when the sentences began and ended?
Were any older forms of ...
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When are "《" and " 》" and other brackets used?
In some texts, I have seen the following brackets:
Caret brackets: 《, 》, 〈, and 〉.
Square brackets: 【, 】, 〖, and 〗.
C-brackets: 〔 and 〕.
L-brackets: 「, 」, 『, and 』.
Some questions:
What are the ...
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Is the usage of European punctuation acceptable in Chinese writing?
Chinese punctuation is a little bit different from European punctuation, for example:
The full stop (period) is "。" instead of "."
The ellipsis are six vertically centered dots (… …) instead of just ...
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