引号是一个用途比较广泛的标点符号，多用于表示文中直接引用的部分，有时也用来表示需要着重论述的对象或具有特殊含义的词语等。在英式英语中，引号通常用单引号，在美式英语中通常用双引号。本文拟就英语引号的基本用法作一归纳。

1．用于表示引用语的起止，标明直接引语中的所有词语和标点符号。例如：

“If I have seen farther than any man, it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants.”  (Newton)

“He was polite and always gave advice willingly,” she recalled.

There is an English proverb saying "Honesty is the best policy."

1）引用语中的句号和逗号必须置于引号(双引号和单引号) 之内。例如：

“The president,” said that reporter, “is lying.”

“At last,” said the old woman, “I can say I am truly happy.”

“I’m proud of what I did but I was just doing what I’d been taught,” John said.

“We must hope,” he replied wearily, “that things will improve.”

2）冒号与分号通常置于引号外。例如：

Do you agree with what Mary says: “A change is as good as a rest”?

The secretary said to the women on the phone: “Could you hold on for a minutes?”

He told the gunman, “I refuse to do that”; his knees, however, were shaking even as he said those words.

She never liked the poem "Dover Beach"; in fact, it was her least favorite piece of Victorian literature.

3）问号、感叹号和破折号有时置于引号之内, 有时置于引号之外。如果所引用内容本身是疑问句或感叹句或带有破折号, 这些符号一般放在引号之内。否则, 放在引号之外。例如：

Once we have decided the content of teaching, the next question we have to answer is “How should we teach?”

What is the meaning of the title “Theme Parks — Fun and More Than Fun”?

He loves to say “I told you so!” when things go wrong.

The frightened girl screamed, “Help”!

“You are quite wrong — she does like you.”

Uncle Wang laughingly answered —“No, no; stay where you are.”

    4）引用犹豫或被打断的话语，英语中用破折号或用三个点的省略号。例如：

“Pass me — I mean, would you mind passing me the salt, please?”

The wind swallowed the reply, and Jukes heard only one word, spoken with great energy “… Always …”

    5）作者提示“某某说/想/写”之类的词语（如he said / smiled / whispered / asked / advised / answered / begged / suggested / decided / shouted / agreed / screamed / thought / wrote / replied, she told me, they complained）放置在中间，用逗号与其两侧的引用语分开，但引用语若有问号或叹号时则保留原用符号。例如：

“Humor,” says Dr. James Birren, noted psychologist, “also leads you to join with other people.”

“Tell us,” they said, “of more wonders that you have seen!”

“Of course,” he smiled, “which star would you like to go?”

“Forgive me,” Einstein wrote, “you found the only way which, in your age, was just about possible for a man of highest thought and creative power.”

“No sir,”replied the girl,“I want to go home.”

    6）引语里面的引语宜用逗号隔开。注意当外面一层用单引号时，里面一层用双引号；外面一层用双引号时，里面一层用单引号。例如：

‘When the judge said, “Not guilty”, I could have hugged him.’

“I think she said ‘I will try,’ not ‘I won’t try,’” explained Sandy.

The professor said: “Confucius says, ‘Do not impose on others what you do not desire yourself.’ This is a very good principle of moral conduct.”

7）在宾语从句为直接引语的句子里，若全部或部分直接引语位于主句之前，主句常用倒装(有助动词时不可倒装)；若作宾语从句的直接引语置于主句之后，主句用正常语序。

“Help! Help!” shouted the boy.

“I can’t do it,” he had said.

“I am sure,” said Jack, “you are right.”

2. 用于标明行文中的对话。一般来说，换一个人说话要另起一个段落，用引号另行标明。例如：

(1) Rebecca: “What! Don’t you love him (Amelia’s brother)?”

Amelia: “Yes, of course, I do.”

(2) A: “The old house belongs to the Greens.”

    B: “There’s nobody living in it now, is there?”

(3) “Were all three people in the car injured in the accident?”

“No, it was only the two passengers who got hurt.”

 (4) “How shall I do it?”

“Just as you wish.”

3. 用以标明专有名词，如广播、电影、电视节目, 歌曲及游戏, 夏令营名称等，或文艺作品，如杂志、报纸上的文章、短诗、短篇故事，或整部书的某一章节的名称等。例如：

I was watching “Match of the Day”.

His most exciting invitation was to perform on a TV programme called “Top of the Pops.”

I love “Ode to Ants”; it’s insightful and moving.

“In Search of Roots” has helped students like Robert Qian find out about their

homeland.

“The Arabian Nights” is a very interesting story-book.

Explain in your own words what the writer means by the title “A NIGHT THE EARTH DIDN’T SLEEP”.  

4. 用以引用标明短小的引语或谚语。例如：

When an ant says “ocean”, he’s talking about a small pool.

Why do advertisers often use the “Buy one get one free” message? 

That’s the motto of the Olympics, you know —“Swifter, Higher and Stronger.”

Many people believe that “It is always calm before a storm.”

There is an old saying: “Give a man a fish; you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish, and you have fed him for a lifetime.”

“It pours cats and dogs” means it rains heavily.

The theme of our discussion was “Europe in the 1980’s”.

5. 用以引用需要着重论述的对象，引起读者对这些特殊词语或字符的注意。例如：

Use “can’t” to show that you are almost sure something is not true.

“Sayings” are fixed phrases or sentences used to make comments, give advice, issue warnings, etc.    

“SOS” is a message for help from a ship or aircraft when in danger. 

The idea that the number “13” brings bad luck seems to be quite absurd.

You can put the prefix super- in front of many words to give them the meaning “more than” or “above”.

I’d love to have my own company one day. I can achieve that by having a “winner’s” attitude: I can do this!

    6. 用于表示所引用的词语具有特殊意义，如术语、比喻义、引申义或俚语等。例如：

When people use words and expressions different from the “standard language”, it is called a dialect.  

The second kind of word is a “homophone”—it’s created by combining letters and symbols to sound like other words.

“I have recovered,” said the president, who described his return to health as a “medical miracle”.     

We say a good journalist must have a good “nose” for a story. 

The message it is sending is: “Buy our shoes and you’ll live an exciting life in the ‘fast lane’.”

The author “kills off” her hero in Chapter 7.

7. 用于标示读者不熟悉或需要强调、引起读者注意的词语等。例如：

He realized the “subtlety” of China’s messages, the gap between her hot rhetoric and her cool action.

Haven’t you noticed the “Danger” sign on the sidewalk?

You must always hide medicine from children, and you should tell children to ask their parents before they eat “candy” they find.

Instead of “nice” you can write smart, clean, excellent, exciting, beautiful, wonderful, clever, famous, grand, great, huge, special, unusual,…

Reading is a “passive” activity. To really learn any new language, you need to “use” it actively.

8. 用于标示在拟人、反语或拟声等修辞格中，带有褒贬等感情色彩的词语。例如：

The dog laughed and said, “Don’t deceive me that way.”

“I hate packing for a vacation,” said the yellow snail.

How did those “elegantly” dressed young men and ladies look on the bus?   

Born in New Orleans in 1901, Louis was so poor that he often went “shopping” in rubbish bins outside fancy restaurants. 

“What’s happened?” he muttered.

以上对引号的常见用法作了简单的归纳。引号的主要作用就是标示引语或特定称谓，表示词语具有特殊含义需要强调或表示否定和讽刺等。标点的正确使用会使文章表达清晰，通顺易懂。因此，引号这个用途比较广泛却不易把握的小符号，应该引起英语学习者的重视。

参考文献

1. Hornby, A. S.《牛津高阶英汉双解词典（第七版）》，商务印书馆，牛津大学出版社, 2009年

2. 徐广联《大学英语语法》，华东理工大学出版社，2005年

3. 张道真《实用英语语法》，商务印书馆，1986年

4. 张培基等《英汉翻译教程》，上海外语教育出版社, 1980年

唐恩众（Tonny）老师简介：

中学一级教师，新疆大学英语专业学士，二十年教龄，长期担任重点班班主任工作。在《乌鲁木齐教育》和《中小学英语教学与研究》发表多篇文章。教学艺术炉火纯青，组织教学层次分明，详略得当，重点突出。对词汇教学和语法教学及英语中考题型训练有独到见解。讲课细致、耐心，富有激情而又不失温情，语言生动形象，具有感染力。赢得了家长学员的一致好评！

咨询电话：0991-7823414、15899175973、13579251832

责任编辑：四喜

（郑重声明：本网所有文字、图片、视频等内容版权均为乌鲁木齐欢欢家教网独有，未经本网书面授权许可，严禁转载！通过书面授权可以转载的，则需要注明内容出处。）