Writing

A Plain English Handbook

April 22, 2024
Writing

这本书竟然是美国的证券交易委员会(Securities and Exchange Commission)1998年编著的, 旨在指导投资机构和金融机构创建更清晰，更易理解的披露文件。

  • [[简明写作指南]]

English Exposed Common Mistakes Made by Chinese Speakers

February 22, 2022
Writing, English

  • 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