Manhattan Sentence Correction 笔记.docx

1、Manhattan Sentence Correction 笔记1. The basic process (平均1分20秒一个问题，永远不要超过两分钟)1) Take a first glance: A. 看划线句子的长度: 很长说明可能结构什么的有问题B. 看划线句子的第一个单词和之前的一个单词C. 找出答案中选项的不同之处在哪里(主要看第一个或第二个单词)，并以此将他们分组2) Read for meaning: A. 读原句，注意grammatical mistake若注意到原句的错误就可以划去A和其他重复这个错误的其他答案B. 注意meaning是否无歧义(尝试rephrase)/是否

2、用词冗余3) Find a starting point:A. 读原句，notice a (suspected) mistake in the original sentence看答案有没有对他进行改正的选项B. 读答案，find some splits/differences in the answer set4) Eliminate all incorrect choices5) Find a new starting point and repeat step 3 & 4A. 处理原句中的错误B. 纵向对比剩余的答案，寻找不同之处将不同之处与原文未划线部分比较，判断哪个更好的传达了原文的

3、意思2. 举例子可以用such as, for example, including; 不能用like (is used to indicate a similarity between two or more things)3. 两大原则：1) Grammar: 可能会和日常的spoken English不同A. Five grammatical terms needed to know:a) Clause: a set of words that contains a subject and a working verbi. Independent clause: 句子ii. Depend

4、ent clause: cannot stand alone as a sentence sentence fragmentb) Modifier: provides additional information in a sentence, beyond the core subject and verb 修饰语i. nonessential modifier: are usually separated out from the rest of the sentence by commas.ii. essential modifier: necessary in order to unde

5、rstand the meaning of the sentencec) Sentence core: consists of any independent clauses along with some essential modifiers. This is the bare minimum needed in order to have a coherent sentenced) Conjunction: words that help to stick parts of sentences togetheri. Coordinating conjunctions: glue two

6、independent clauses togetherii. Subordinating conjunctions: connect modifiers to independent clausese) Marker: a flag or clue that a certain kind of issue is being tested2) Meaning: 包括了convey precise meaning和避免冗余 (preference other than rule)A. The choice of worda) Economic: 经济上的，经济的,=monetaryEconomi

7、cal: 节约的，合算的My decision to drive a hybrid car was motivated by ECONOMIC considerationsECONOMICAL considerations motivated my decision to drive a hybrid car第二句是错的，因为economic consideration=monetary consideration意指经济上的愿意，不应该用economical considerationb) 其他类似的词意相似但不能互换的词包括： aggravate (worsen) vs. aggravat

8、ing (irritating) known as (named) vs. known to be (acknowledged as) loss of (no longer in possession of) vs. loss in (decline in value) mandate (command) vs. have a mandate (have authority from voters) native of (person from) vs. native to (species that originated in) range of (variety of) vs. rangi

9、ng (varying) rate of (speed or frequency of) vs. rates for (prices for) rise (general increase) vs. raise (a bet or a salary increase in American English) try to do (seek to accomplish) vs. try doing (experiment with)c) 注意may, should, must, can, mustnt, shouldnt, cant, would等的差别B. The placement of w

10、ord: 注意句子中word的顺序会影响句意The council granted the right to make legal petitions TO CITY OFFICIALS.这句话是非常ambiguous的，因为不能确定right被granted给了谁The council granted CITY OFFICIALS the right to make legal petitions.The right to make legal petitions TO CITY OFFICIALS was granted by the council.C. The matches of w

11、ordUnlike Alaska, where the winter is quite cold, the temperature in Florida rarely goes below freezing. 这个句子是illogical的，因为不能把一个地方的冬天和另一个地方的温度进行比较D. Avoid redundancy 4. The cost to X= X do the payingThe cost of X= someone has to pay a certain amount to buy X5. “Raise” is a verb that always takes a d

12、irect object: The Fed (subject) raised the interest rate (object) in March.“Rise” is used only in contexts where there is no direct object: Interest rates (subject) rose in March6. “as though” is used to discuss things that are untrue or did not happen: You behave as though you were richer than Bill

13、 Gates7. Though Canals have experienced a severe decline in barge traffic over the past several decades, yet with the rise in fuel costs, “shipping” by actual ships may once again become an important means of transporting goods within the country. 这个句子选择去掉though比较好，因为如果去掉yet，可能会把with the rise in fue

14、l costs放到前半部分去8. Sentence structure: 一个完整的句子/independent clause必须同时有相匹配的subject和verb 1) Compound subject: must be connected by the word “and”Compound verb: verbs attached to the same subject2) Learn to ignore “middleman” (words between the subject and the verb) and skip “warmup” (words that comes be

15、fore the subject)A. Prepositional phrase 介词短语: head by a prepositionB. Dependent clauseC. Other modifiers3) Try to analyze the structure of the sentence to decideThe tidal forces to which an object falling into a black hole is/are subjected is/are sufficient to tear the object apart.The tidal forces

16、 to which an object falling into a black hole is/are subjected are sufficient to tear the object apart.The tidal forces to which an object falling into a black hole is subjected is/are sufficient to tear the object apart.4) “that”的缺失可能造成ambiguityI know Meryl Streep is an actor.两种interpretation: Do y

17、ou actually know someone named Meryl Streep or you just know something about Meryl Streep5) Compound sentence: two independent clauses being connected by a comma and a conjunction/ two independent clauses being connected by a semicolon分号9. Be tired out from doing something 做。感到十分疲劳10. Modifiers1) Ad

18、jectives and adverbs:仅仅是一个词而非dependent clauseA. Noun modifiers (such as adjectives): modify only a noun or a pronoun 代词B. Adverbial modifiers (such as adverbs): modify verbs, adjectives, prepositional phrases, even entire clauses, but do not modify plain nouns and pronounsC. Maxs grandmother is his

19、supposed Irish ancestor.Maxs grandmother is his supposedly Irish ancestorIn the first option, the adjective “supposed” points to the noun ancestor, implying that Maxs grandmother is not actually his ancestor. In the second option, the adverb supposedly points to the adjective Irish, implying that Ma

20、xs grandmother is not actually Irish.D. 形容词和副词同形式: corresponding, frequent, independent, rare, recent, seeming, separate, significant, supposed, and usual要思考modify的到底是什么词，以此确定到底应该用形容词还是副词2) Noun modifiers: modify nounsA. The cat, which lives next door, is very noisy.The cat that lives next door is v

21、ery noisy.In the first sentence, the “comma which” structure is an example of a nonessential modifier. If you take a nonessential modifier out of the sentence, you still retain the full meaning of the main part of the sentence: the cat is very noisy (and both the talker and listener know which cat i

22、s under discussion). The second sentence includes an example of an essential modifier. If you remove it from the sentence, then the meaning may be compromised. For instance, if there are three cats and you say only, “The cat is very noisy,” nobody will know which cat you mean. Essential modifiers ar

23、e not usually separated out by commas.B. The position of noun modifiers: Place a NOUN and its MODIFIER as close together as possibleJim biked along an old dirt road to get to his house, which cut through the woods.To get to his house, Jim biked along an old dirt road, which cut through the woods.第二个

24、句子更好，因为noun和its modifier离得更近C. Possessive Nouns Are Not NounsHappy about his raise, Bills celebration included taking his friends out to dinner.Bills这个名词所有格并不是名词而是形容词，因此happy about his raise不能够修饰它，而同时happy about his raise也不能修饰celebrationD. Noun Modifier Markers: a) Relative Pronouns (such as Which,

25、That, Who, Whose, Whom, Where, When) b) Prepositions and Participles 分词3) Adverbial Modifiers: modify anything except nounsA. The placement of adverbial modifiers：并不强调要和修饰的东西放的越近越好；要求是不要和别的verb/clause放太近就可以了The CEO declared that everyone had to work every day through the holidays to make the product

26、ion deadline, but in calling for such an extreme measure, the companys employees were upset to the point of mutiny.此处in calling for such an extreme measure修饰的应该是CEO，故该句子是ambiguous的改为：The CEO declared that everyone had to work every day through the holidays to make the production deadline, but in cal

27、ling for such an extreme measure, she upset her employees to the point of mutiny.B. Check the sequence of participle modifiers: 强调the information presented earlier in the sentence leads to or results in the information presented later in the sentenceC. Subordinators 主从连词 (such as although, before, u

28、nless, because, yet, if, that, so that, after, while, since, when)Subordinator+ independent clause= subordinate clause which modify the main clause it attached to (usually the main clause comes after the subordinate clause)4) Which vs. the Present Participle ing: Use WHICH only to refer to nounsneve

29、r to refer to an entire clause (只有-ing 才可以refer to the entire clause)Crime has recently decreased in our neighborhood, WHICH has led to a rise in property values. 这个句子是错的可改成：The recent decrease in crime in our neighborhood has led to a rise in property values.Crime has recently decreased in our neig

30、hborhood, leading to a rise in property values.5) QuantityA. Words Used for Countable Things vs. Words Used for Uncountable Thingsa) More, most, enough, and all work with both countable (plural) and uncountable (singular) nounsb) Do not use the word “less” with countable itemsc) Be careful with unit

31、 nouns, such as “dollars” or “gallons”. By their nature, unit nouns are countable. Thus, they work with most of the countable modifiers. However, unit nouns represent uncountable quantities: money, volume. As a result, use “less” with unit nouns, when you really want to indicate something about the

32、underlying quantity: We have less than 20 DOLLARSB. Words Used to Relate Two Things vs. Words Used to Relate Three or More Thingsa) Comparison: 比较级和最高级b) Use “between” only with two things or people. When you are talking about three or more things or people, use “among”C. The Word Numbers: use “greater than”, not “more than” (which might imply that the quantity of numbers is larger, not the numbers themselves)