Quote:
Originally Posted by ericshliao
I have browsed several writing guides of master and doctor thesis (dissertation) specifically for Chinese, and I don't find any rule about punctuation that lionfish mentioned. So, maybe there is no such rules, not merely for "typical high school or university essay", but also for "higher" level writing. 
I would assert that such rule, if there is any, must exists in professions of journalist or publication. That's not what I know of. But even if such rule does exists, I can say for sure that it's not commonly accepted.
BTW, I don't know the reason why punctuation should not start from the start of a line, both for English and for Chinese. Any explanation? |
Well. You don't have to obey grammar, you don't have to spell or use punctuations correctly. You can write illegibly. You don't even have to write something meaningful at all. Those mistakes are all very common in modern publications and the publishers won't be put in jail by doing that.
"My school has never taught me", "I can't find on the Web", "Publications violating these rules do exist on my bookshelf" would never ever imply "there is no such rules".
Here is a
web page from the Chinese Government. I quote the section 5 from it as follow:
5 标点符号的位置
5.1 句号、问号、叹号、逗号、顿号、分号和冒号一般占一个字的位置，居左偏下，不出现在一行之首。
5.2 引号、括号、书名号的前一半不出现在一行之末，后一半不出现在一行之首。
5.3 破折号和省略号都占两个字的位置，中间不能断开。连接号和间隔号一般占一个字的位置。这四种符 号上下居中。
5.4 着重号、专名号和浪线式书名号标在字的下边，可以随字移行。
The following is a screen-shot captured from a Yahoo HK web page. Notice the circled positions.
Any decent web browsers, word processors, desktop publishers, presses and writers will follow these rules.
As for an explanation, if you consider a punctuation mark and the character before/after it as a unit, it will be easier to understand why these rules exist. Punctuations will never exist standalone, they are always part of a sentence or phrase. You won't accept breaking a word into two lines, right? This is also the algorithm behind word processor and why commas or periods will never start a line. Of course this is my version only, buy it or not.