Period
Period is the most commonly used symbol, and you need to know it in the first grade of elementary school. A period indicates a pause after a sentence is finished. Sentences with periods have a smooth tone. For example: 1. The sun is warm. (The Ugly Duckling, Volume 4 of Primary School Chinese Language) 2. It turns out that there are many stalagmites growing on the bottom of the pool, some are like rolling hills, some are like steep mountain peaks, some are like standing pagodas, and some are like clusters of corals. ("Five Colorful Pond", Volume 7, of Primary School "Chinese") 3. The water of the Lijiang River is so quiet, so quiet that you can't feel it flowing; the water of the Lijiang River is so clear, you can see the sand and stones at the bottom of the river; the water of the Lijiang River is so green, as green as if it were a flawless piece of Jade. (Guilin Landscapes, Volume 11, of Primary School Chinese Language) 4. Seeing that your bodies are getting weaker day by day, as long as you don't have enough food, you might not be able to get up. (Primary school "Chinese" Volume 11 "Golden Fishhook") Example 1 is very simple. It talks about the feeling of the sun to people. It is a complete sentence with periods. Example 2 is a longer sentence. It uses four "some" to connect the images of several types of stalagmites at the bottom of the pool, and the end of the sentence is marked with a period. Example 3 is a long sentence, actually three sentences in parallel, talking about the three characteristics of the Lijiang River: quiet, clear, and green. Because the three sentences have the same function, the same form, and are closely related, they should be placed in one large sentence and separated by semicolons. Example 4 is a sentence with related words. "As long as... then..." is the link connecting the sentence structure, so it is still counted as a sentence. In the reading process, the period marks a larger pause, that is, the pause time is longer. The comma in Example 2 and Example 4 and the semicolon in Example 3 cannot mark a pause longer than a period. Let’s look at: 5. Today is Wednesday. 6. It was sunny yesterday. 7. Close the door. At first glance, these three examples do not look like complete sentences, and they do not conform to the sentence construction pattern of "who (or what) did what (or how)" that we usually know, but if you think about it carefully, they all express a complete sentence. means, they are special forms of sentences, so they all use periods. As can be seen from the above examples: the key to whether or not to use a period is not the length of the language, but whether the language expresses a complete meaning and can form a complete sentence. Although some are just one word, they can express a complete meaning, and the word constitutes a sentence. For example: 8. Walk. 9. No. Although some are composed of multiple words, they do not express a complete meaning. According to the requirements of the sentence structure, it is only a part of the sentence (also called a component), so it cannot be counted as a sentence. For example: 10． The colorful pools, big and small, square and round, shining brightly in the sun are not sentences, so they must not use periods. Can a complete sentence use periods? Not necessarily, it also depends on the tone of the sentence. Periods are suitable for sentences with a declarative tone and a gentle tone. Periods cannot be used for interrogative sentences with a strong tone. Such as: 11. Is this your bread?12. Li Hei, put down the gun! If these two sentences are replaced with periods, then Example 11 is not a question, but tells you "This bread is yours", and Example 12 is not a command tone, but a statement to people "Li Hei put the gun." to the ground" action. When we usually write essays, there are three incorrect uses of periods. 1. Use too little. Do not use a period where it should be used, which will make the level of the paragraph unclear and affect the expression effect. Such as: 13. Lu Feng's stool was broken and he would fall down if he sat on it. Li Zhi saw it and took it to heart. He brought tools from home. After school, everyone left, and he squatted alone in the classroom, tinkling. Repair it. (Exercise) Example 13 is a paragraph composed of four sentences: the first sentence introduces that Lu Feng's stool is broken and will fall, and ends with "fall"; the second sentence talks about Li Zhi keeping it in mind, and ends with "heart"; The third sentence talks about Li Zhi bringing tools; the fourth sentence talks about Li Zhi repairing the stool. However, the author only uses a period at the end of the paragraph, which makes the four sentences lose their independence and the whole paragraph is unclear. 2. Use too much. The use of a period before a complete meaning is expressed destroys the integrity of the sentence. Such as: 14． In spring, the Elaeagnus trees stretch out their gnarled branches. It is covered with short leaves. A layer of fine sand-like substance on the leaves is crystal clear and shiny. Example 14 is actually a sentence, and a period would have sufficed at the end, but the author used three periods, and the first two periods interrupted the connection within the sentence. 3. Mixed use. Sentences belonging to other moods use periods, which are mixed with other punctuation marks. For example: 15． Is it Ami or Cuiqin. No, it doesn't look like either. 16. Li Yong shouted to me: "Get out of the way." There was a boom and the shelf collapsed. Example 15 "Is it Ami or Cuiqin" is a question, so a question mark should be used. In Example 16, "get out of the way" is an imperative tone, so an exclamation point should be used. The period occupies a character position in the application and is written immediately after the previous text. It cannot be written independently at the beginning of a line. In scientific articles, a small dot (·) is used instead of a period in order not to be confused with zero, and its position is still at the lower right of the word at the end of the sentence. Song with a period: Use a period at the end of a sentence, and the tone is gentle and not high-pitched. When reading, you should pause when you see it, and don’t forget to break up sentences when composing.