英文也有分號嗎? 還是都用逗號代替?

Question

英文也有分號嗎? 用法跟中文的分號一樣嗎? 還是都用逗號代替? 還是.....?

請詳細回答 　　謝謝～

Answer 1

分號最常用於兩子句之間，其分隔度較逗號為大，但較句號為小，通常用作表示句子中兩子句意思相連。

（1） 以分號化替句號來分隔兩相關獨立子句（Independent Clauses）.

例子：
The student parking lot is half empty at 3:30p.m.; this must be a commuter campus.
Spring is here; the birds are warbling with joy.


注意：
如果使用 coordinating conjunction﹝連接詞﹞ (for, and, nor, but, or, yet or so)，則用逗號 comma，而不是分號。　

（2） 當其中一獨立子句（Independent Clause）中包含逗號時，以分號來分隔兩子句.

例子：
For anything worth having one must pay the price; and the price is always work, patience, love, self-sacrifice.

（3） 當要使用連接副詞（Conjunctive Adverbs, e.g. therefore, however）或其他連接語（Transitional Expressions, e.g. in addition, on the other hand）來聯結子句時，以分號作分隔.

例子：
His mother claimed to be interested in swimming; however, she didn’t know the difference between orthodox breaststroke（蛙式）and butterfly stroke（蝴蝶式）.

If you give children too much freedom, they will never learn to control themselves; on the other hand, if you give them too little, they will never become self-reliant.

注意：
連接副詞及連接語的子句當然可以以句號和前一子句相隔。

例如：
His mother claimed to be interested in swimming. However, she didn’t know the difference between orthodox breaststroke（蛙式）and butterfly stroke（蝴蝶式）.

If you give children too much freedom, they will never learn to control themselves. On the other hand, if you give them too little, they will never become self-reliant.


（4） 利用分號來分開較長或含有逗號的串聯字、短語或子句。(類似逗號，但是逗號通常接的是較短的字詞或單字。)

例子：
We need the following representatives: a person who speaks Mandarin, Japanese, or Korean; a lawyer with a background in civil rights; and a professor of art, literature, or some other area within the humanities.

Answer 2

英文是有分號的，用法如下︰

1. 用以代替逗號，隔開句中已含逗號的部分︰
例 – She wanted to be successful, whatever it might cost; to achieve her goal, whoever might suffer as a result.

2. (鄭重用法)用以隔開並列重句，尤其用於沒有連接詞(conjunction)的句中︰
例 1 – The sun was already low in the sky; it would soon be dark.
例 2 – He had never been to China; however, it had always been one of his ambitions.