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
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
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)
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.
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
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’
February 22, 2022