English Exposed Common Mistakes Made by Chinese Speakers

Amazon https://www.amazon.com/English-Exposed-Mistakes-Chinese-Speakers/dp/9888390759
Outline
- Part A: Classes … to recognize
- Part B: Choices … to remember
  - 1. NOUN-ADJECTIVE-VERB CONFUSION
    - 11.1 How to distinguish the noun from its adjective form
      - 常见的名词和形容词后缀
    - 11.2 When to use the noun and adjective forms for gender
      - man woman / male female / males females
      - And when writing generally, the terms should be either singular or plural (plural is usually appropriate for a general reference).
      - ‘Male’ and ‘female’ can be adjectives or nouns, but as nouns (‘a male’, ‘a female’) they usually refer to animals; ‘man’ and ‘woman’ are preferred for humans in a study.
    - Noun and verb forms that attract errors
  - 1. Selecting the correct word
    - 12.1 commonly confused words
      - about/regarding
      - affect/effect
      - apart from/except for
      - as well/also
        
        ‘as well’ normally goes at the end of a sentence. It can only go at the beginning in the form of ‘As well as . . . ’.
        
        ‘Also’ is often used before a verb.
      - casual/causal
      - called/known as
        
        Only ‘known’ can be followed by ‘as’
        
        The same rule applies to ‘named’ and ‘termed’. They should not be followed by ‘as’
      - concern/consider
        
        2 meanings: to relate to; to trouble or worry
        
        overused
      - contrary to/in contrast
        
        There is little difference between them, but ‘in contrast’ is normally used as a mere comparison. The other two (‘on the contrary’/’contrary to’) clearly state the opposite and show disagreement.
        
        ‘On the contrary’ can only be used as a response to something just mentioned.
      - follow(ing)/as follows
        
        examples
        
        An estimation of the cost will also follow.
        
        … will be explained in the following parts:
        
        The advantages are described as follows:
        
        The three recommendations follow a brief analysis.
        
        The following are some suggestions.
      - lack/fail
      - rarely/merely
      - remain/keep
        
        to remain verb: to continue to be; to be left; to stay there
        
        to keep verb: to hold or retain; to maintain
      - remark/remind
      - rest/remaining
        
        ‘Rest’ is a noun, and ‘remaining’ is an adjective.
        
        The noun ‘rest’ cannot be used as a plural.
        
        Whatever ‘rest’ is referring to will determine whether the verb is singular or plural.
      - rise/raise
      - same/similar
      - trend/tend
      - try/attempt
        
        As a noun, ‘try’ cannot be used with the verb ‘to make’. Instead, ‘attempt’ should be employed.
      - underlying/underlining
        
        Underlining’ relates to emphasis or actually drawing a line under something.
        
        ‘Underlying’ is an adjective and relates to something that is fundamental or something that is present but not obvious
      - well/good
    - 12.2 prefix definitions and use
de: take something away; do the opposite of; reduce
dis: reverse; opposite
dys: difficult; bad; abnormal
hetero: different
homo: same; alike
hyper: excessive; above
in: not, negative; into
iso: equal; same
mal: bad; abnormal
mis: bad, badly; wrong
non: not; absence of
poly: many
re: again; repeatedly
un: not; opposite (not always a negative meaning)``` - If there is an appropriate prefi x that can be attached to a particular word, then it should be used. It is always preferable to adding ‘not’ ‘or ‘again’. - 和句子的语气保持一致 - This makes it not a suitable case study to use. X - This makes it an unsuitable case study to use. V - 13. Selecting the correct style - 13.1 contractions - 不用缩写 - 13.2 phrases to avoid - Use ‘however’ or ‘regardless’, not ‘anyway’. - Use ‘essentially’ or ‘ultimately’, not ‘basically’. - Use ‘last’, not ‘at last’. - Use ‘last’, not ‘last but not least’. - Use ‘largely’ / ‘greatly’, not ‘majorly’. - Use ‘withdraw’, not ‘quit’. - Opt for ‘imagine’, ‘consider’ or ‘suppose’ instead of ‘reckon’. - Use ‘in total’, not ‘totally’. - 13.3 excessive adjectives - mistake of using strong adjectives or inserting adverbs - incredible -> key - magnificent -> marked - massive -> large/great - Some adjectives already have a strong meaning and therefore do not require any assistance from adverbs to add emphasis. These include ‘crucial’, ‘critical’, and ‘necessary’ - 13.4 clarity and redundancy in writing - 13.5 verbs in sequence - When listing a sequence of points, it is desirable to keep the format consistent. If the list begins with a verb, it is advisable to retain a parallel structure with all the verbs in the same form; mixing verbs and nouns in a list should also be avoided. - 13.6 nominalization - 13.7 Exercises
- Part C: Components … to review
  - 1. REGIONS AND COUNTRIES
    - Although most proper nouns do not require an article, the names of some countries and regions have ‘the’ as part of their name.
      - the United Kingdom
      - the People’s Republic of China
      - the Netherlands
      - the United States
    - 14.1 countries as adjectives
      - Note the use of article
    - 14.2 noun and adjective confusion
      - Germany German
      - India Indian
      - Malaysia Malaysian
      - France Franch
      - Japan Japanese
      - Taiwan Taiwanese
      - Switzerland Swiss
      - Thailand Thai
      - Brazil Brazilian
    - 14.3 order of adjectives
      - The adjective for nationality should come after other modifiers (and therefore be nearest the noun)
  - 1. Dates and Time Expressions
    - 15.1 correct format for dates
    - 15.2 prepositions and dates
      - in Month/Year
      - on day
    - 15.3 tense
    - 15.4 time phrases
    - 15.5 adjective time phrases
      - When time phrases represent an adjective modifying a noun, the unit of time needs to be in the singular form and the term hyphenated.
      - example: This three-year cycle was confirmed by the research group in 1967
    - 15.6 ‘today’ and ‘nowadays’
      - The mistake occurs when writers try to give ‘nowadays’ possession. Nowadays can only be used as an adverb and therefore cannot take a possessive form like ‘today’ can.
  - 1. Numbers and Percentages
    - 16.1 using numbers
      - Numbers should only be spelled out using letters if they are under 11
      - If a number begins the sentence, then it must be spelled out regardless of its value
      - Numbers, not words, should always be used with units
      - Numbers and letters should not be mixed when writing out a number. This is commonly seen with hundreds and thousands
    - 16.2 order of adjectives
      - after sequence adjectives, before any other adjectives
    - 16.3 ordinal numbers: 1st, 2nd,3rd
    - 16.4 rank and article use: the 1st
    - 16.5 fractions: two-thirds, Three-quarters
    - 16.6 prepositional choice
      - divided by, not “divided into”
      - equal to/ equals
    - 16.7 working with percentages
      - The percentage sign % is prefered to words when using percentages in the main text
      - But if the sentence begins with a percentage, then the terms should be written without numbers or signs
      - if there are no numbers attached to the term, then the phrase to use is ‘percentage’ not ‘percent’.
    - 16.8 Exercises
      - A. forth->fourth, 19->Nineteen, seven->seventh
      - B. percentage, percent, %, percentage
  - 1. Figures and Tables
    - 17.1 numbered figures
      - Figure 4 or the table
      - When sequence words are used (next, previous, following, etc), a number should not be added
      - ‘in’ should be used for tables and figures, no ‘on’
    - 17.2 using above and below
      - This can be seen in the figure below
      - Below is a table..
      - The above diagram does not…
      - As argued above
    - 17.3 verb choice
      - typical verbs: to show, to depict, to display, to see, to present
      - One error that should be addressed is the use of ‘exhibit’
      - As shown in Table 2…
      - According to Table 2, the number…
    - 17.4 Exercises
      - A. 3, 3
      - B
        
        The follow table presents… or Table 6.3 presents…
  - 1. Spellings and Typos
    - 18.1 misspelled terms
    - 18.2 issues with double consonants
    - 18.3 Exercises
      - through, phases, identifies, management, form, previously, aligned, customer, where, learn
  - 1. Punctuation
    - 19.1 commas and clauses
    - 19.2 commas, conjunctions, and references
    - 19.3 semicolons, clauses, and lists
    - 19.4 distinguishing dashes
      - hyphen -
      - en dash –
      - em dash —
    - 19.5 capital letter use
    - 19.6 Exercises
  - 1. Referencing
    - 20.1 Harvard and APA style
    - 20.2 names
    - 20.3 verb agreement
    - 20.4 phrases and reporting verbs
    - 20.5 using quotes
    - 20.6 Exercises
- Appendix: Irregular Verbs