科技英语写作技巧解读.docx
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科技英语写作技巧解读
TheMostCommonHabitsfrommorethan200EnglishPaperswrittenbyGraduateChineseEngineeringStudents
ByFeliciaBrittman
ThispaperpresentssomeofthemostcommonChinese-EnglishhabitsobservedfromovertwohundredEnglishtechnicalpapersbyChinesewriters.Thehabitsareexplainedandinmostcases,exampletextfromanactualpaperisgivenalongwithpreferredtext.Anattemptismadetoexplainhowtocorrectandpreventsuchmistakes.Insomecasesapossibleexplanationofwhythehabitoccursisalsogiven.ThispapercanserveasanindividualguidetoeditingtechnicalpapersespeciallywhenanativeEnglish-speakingeditorisunavailable.
Introduction
MostChineseuniversitiesrequiretheirdoctoralandmastercandidatesintechnicalandscientificfieldstopublishatleastoneEnglishpaperinaninternationaljournalasadegreerequirement.However,manyfactorsmakethistaskdifficulttoaccomplish.First,previousEnglishstudiesmaynothavefocusedenoughonwriting,letalonetechnicalwriting.CurrentstudiesmaynotincludeEnglish,causingthewritersEnglishfluencyleveltodecline.Second,mostwritershaveneverlivedinanEnglish-speakingcountry.Third,duetothespecialaspectsoftechnicalwriting,evennativeEnglish-speakingengineeringstudentshaveatechnicalwritingcourseaspartoftheirstudy.
Toooften,students’papersarereturnedunacceptedbecauseofpoorEnglish.Ifavailable,studentsmayhavetheirpaperseditedbyanativeEnglishspeaker.However,thiscangetexpensiveforadepartmentthathasmanystudentswitheachpapertypicallyneedingtobeeditedtwice.Hiringsomeonetoeditpapersisdifficult,costlyandonlyputsapatchovertheproblem.AnativeEnglishspeakercandoagoodjobatgettingridofmostofthegrammaticalmistakes.However,ifthispersondoesnothaveatechnicalbackground,particularlyintheareaofthepapersheisediting,heisunabletogetridofallofthemistakesandmakesurethatthemeaningisclear.Hecannotrecognizetheincorrecttranslationoftechnicaltermsforwhichthereisastandardword.Suchmistakeswillnotbepickedupbytheprocessor’sspellingandgrammarchecker.Inaddition,iftheyarenotfamiliarwiththetopicorfield,theymaynotgraspthemeaningoftheentirearticleandfailtomakecriticaledits.
Hiringapersonwithatechnicalbackgroundsimilartothatofthepapersbeingeditedisabetteroption.Nevertheless,whileapersonwithatechnicalbackgroundmaybeabletoeditthepapersufficiently,hemaynotbeabletoexplaintothewriterhowtopreventsuchmistakesinthefuture.Besides,itisdifficultformostChineseuniversitiestohiresuchstaffsimplyforediting.Universitiesmayconsiderinvitingavisitingscholarwhowilleditpapersinadditiontodoingresearchorteachingaspartofanexchange.Althougheditingmaybethefastestwaytopublishpapers,itdoeslittleinthewayofteachingthewritershowtopreventcommonmistakesandcolloquialhabitsthatpreventaclearunderstandingofthewriter’sideas.Writerswhohavealreadyobtainedan
impressingcommandoftheEnglishlanguagecanonlytrulybenefitiftheyaremadeawareoftheircommonmistakesandcolloquialhabitsandhowtopreventthem.
Purpose
ThepurposeofthisreportistointroducethemostcommonhabitsinChinese-EnglishwritingasnotedfromtheovertwohundredpapersIhaveedited.Thehabitsincludegrammarmistakes,colloquialisms,andformattingproblemsandinmostcasespreventaclearunderstandingofthewriter’sideas.Afewofthehabits,suchaswritingextremelylongsentences,canbecorrectedwithcarefuluseoftheMSWord®grammarandstylechecker.However,mosthabits,suchasmissingarticles,gounnoticedbyautomaticgrammarcheckingdevices.Still,Chinese-Englishcolloquialhabitsarenotrecognizedbysuchsoftwaretools.
Structure
Thecommonhabitsarepresentedintwosections.Thefirstsectionliststhehabitsthat,inmyopinion,needthemostattention.Thesehabitsinterrupttheflowofthepapermakingitdifficulttounderstandandoccurmostfrequently.Inthissection,thehabitsareexplained,examplesentencesfromactualpapersaregiventoshowthehabits,andthesentencesarerewrittentoshowthecorrectwaytowritethem.Inthecaseofmissingarticles,aflowchartisalsogiventoaidinchoosingthecorrectarticles.
Inthesecondsection,anadditionallistofhabitsisgiven.Insomecases,examplesentencesaregiven.Inothercases,adviceisgiven.Thesecondsectionisveryusefulinbecomingfamiliarwithsmallnuances.
NotallofthecommonhabitsIobservedarepresentedmainlybecausetheycanonlybedealtwithonanindividualbasis.Forexample,writershaddifficultytitlingtheirpapersandnamingnewtechnicalideastoexpresstheircontentsandfunctionsconcisely.Thisproblemfrequentlyoccurredbutitcanonlybeaddressedindividually.Oncewritersareawareoftheirhabits,theywouldbeabletowritebettertechnicalEnglisharticles.Section1
“a,an,the”
Thesinglemostcommonhabitistheomissionofarticlesa,an,andthe.ThisoccursbecauseMandarinhasnodirectequivalentofarticlesandtherulesforusingthemaresomewhatcomplicatedforanon-nativespeakers.
Articlessignalthatanounwillfollowandthatanymodifiersbetweenthearticleandthenounrefertothatnoun(abigbluebicycle/thefirstaward.Aandanareindefinitearticles;theisadefinitearticle.Everytimeasingularnoncountnoun,acommonnounthatnamesonecountableitem,isusedthenounrequiressomekindofdeterminer.
Mistake:
The,a,andanare1omittedwheretheyarerequired,2usedwheretheyarenotneededorcontributetowordiness3usedwronglyinplaceofthecorrectarticle.Examplesofincorrectusages:
IncorrectFigure2showsthedistributionofrelativevelocityonsurfaceofmainandsplitterblades.15
CorrectFigure2showsthedistributionofrelativevelocityonthesurfaceofthemainandsplitterblades.15
IncorrectThesoftwarePowerSHAPEischosentobea3Dmodelingtool;itis
goodatdealingwithfreesurfacesandcurves.4
CorrectThesoftwarePowerSHAPEischosentobethe3Dmodelingtool;itisgoodatdealingwithfreesurfacesandcurves.4
Therewasonlyone3Dmodelingtoolusedinthisstudy,therefore‘3Dmodeling
tool’isspecificandrequiresthearticlethe.
IncorrectAtheoreticalmethodforcalculatingtheinnerflow-fieldincentrifugalimpellerwithsplitterbladesandinvestigationoftheinteractions
betweenmainandsplitterbladesispresentedinthispaper.Thevorticesaredistributedonthemainandsplitterbladestosimulatetheeffectsofflows.Systematicalstudyofnumberanddistributionofvorticesis
conducted.15
CorrectAtheoreticalmethodforcalculatingtheinnerflow-fieldinacentrifugalimpellerwithsplitterbladesandaninvestigationoftheinteractions
betweenmainandsplitterbladesispresentedinthispaper.Thevorticesaredistributedonthemainandsplitterbladestosimulatetheeffectsofflows.Asystematicalstudyofthenumberanddistributionofvorticesisconducted.15
IncorrectTheoretically,remanufacturingcouldfullytakeadvantageofresourcescontainedinEOFproducttherebyminimizingimpactonenvironmenttothegreatestextentcomparedtolandfillorrecyclingofmaterials;
consequentlyitcontributesgreatlytoresourceconservation.16
CorrectTheoretically,remanufacturingcouldfullytakeadvantageofresourcescontainedinanEOFproducttherebyminimizingtheimpactonthe
environmenttothegreatestextentcomparedtolandfillorrecyclingofmaterials;consequentlyitcontributesgreatlytoresourceconservation.16Definitions:
ArticlesAlso
called
determinersornounmarkers,articlesarethewordsa,an,andthe.Aandanareindefinitearticles,andtheisadefinitearticle.Articlessignalthata
nounwillfollowandthatanymodifiersbetweenthearticleandthenounrefertothatnoun.(acold,metalchair/thelightning-fastcomputer.
DeterminersAwordorwordgroup,traditionallyidentifiedasanadjective,thatlimitsanounbytellinghowmuchorhowmanyaboutit.(expressionofquantity,limitingadjective,markerTheytellwhetheranounisgeneral(atreeorspecific(thetree.Theisadefinitearticle.Beforeanoun,theconveysthattheknownreferstoaspecificitem(theplan.Aandanareindefinitearticles.Theyconveythatanounreferstoaniteminanonspecificorgeneralway(aplan.
CommonnounsAnounthatnamesageneralgroup,place,person,orthing:
dog,house.
CountnounAnounthatnamesanitemoritemsthatcanbecounted:
radio,streets,
idea,
fingernails.
NoncountnounsAnounthatnamesathingthatcannotbecounted:
water,time.SpecificnounAnoununderstoodtobeexactlyandspecificallyreferredto;usesthe
definite
article
the.
NonspecificnounAnounthatreferstoanyofanumberofidenticalitems;ittakesthe
indefinite
articles
a,an.
Verylongsentences
VerylongsentencesareespeciallycommoninChinese-EnglishwritingbecausethewritersoftentranslatedirectlyfromChinesetoEnglish.Although,inChinesewritingitisacceptabletoputseveralsupportingideasinonsentencetoshowtheirrelationship,inEnglish,themainideaandeachsupportingideaistypicallywritteninseparatesentences.
Onecanusuallyrecognizeaverylongsentencebyitslength–sixtywordsormore.However,sentencesofsmallerlengthscanalsobetoolongiftheycontainmultiplestatementsthatconfusethemainidea.Longsentencescanbeavoidedbylimitingeachsentencetooneortwotopics.Semicolonsshouldbeusedwherethewriterreallywantstoemphasizetherelationshipbetween