Technical Communication Style Words - Department of Civil 技术交流的语言风格-土木系

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Don’t use this tense to state what your thesis or report does!
“This thesis will present the results of the study.”
microbes can destroy contaminants in soil.”
Conclusions: “Of the materials tested, high yield
strength steel has the lowest strength to density ratio at 9 psi/kg/m3.”
list, except when quantities are adjacent:
wrong: 15 wells, three aquifers wrong: 11 90-ohm resistors
Use numerals or words for items listed in handout.
Past Tense
• To describe what you did • To speak biographically of another researcher’s
actions • To set up a historical continuum
“Researchers have long known that microbes can destroy contaminants in soil.”
Use mainly in Procedures, Methodology, and Background sections (also in parts of Intro.)
“In the first experiment, a catalysis was used . . .”
Future Tense
The other day I shot an elephant in my pajamas.
They are often prepositional phrases.
Another example
Where should the phrase “at this time” be placed?
•To state theory or established knowledge •To say what your report or document shows or covers.
Use mainly in Introductions and Conclusions
Introduction: “Researchers have long known that
Limiting Modifiers
These are easily misplaced one –word modifiers
The instructor just nodded to me as she came in. The instructor nodded to me just as she came in. The instructor nodded just to me as she came in.
Dangling modifiers happen at the beginning of a sentence.
They often begin with an –ing verb: Having
Misplaced modifiers can happen anywhere in a sentence.
or situation or previous research
present to state general theories and
knowledge
present to say what your document covers
Subject-Verb Agreement
Do these subjects agree with their verbs?
Numbers
Check with style sheet in your organization – follow it
If no style sheet, follow these guidelines:
Write out numbers “one” through “ten.” Do not mix numerals and words for items in same
“It is important to note at this time that
only the inorganic forms of mercury are used in industry.”
“It is important to note that at this time
only the inorganic forms of mercury are used in industry.”
We knew that, Having broken down many times in the past, the equipment could not be relied upon.
Dangling modifiers are a subset of misplaced modifiers.
“This thesis presents the results of the study.”
Introductions
Use mainly a combination of past and present tense
past tense to give background of problem
Technical Communication Style: Words
Verb tenses Subject-verb agreement Dangling/misplaced
modifiers Limiting modifiers Numbers Diction
Verb Tenses: when to use Present Tense
Infer is your discovery. criteria is plural data is plural site is the place
cite is the verb form of
“citation”
Diction: Commonly Misused Words
affect/effect among/between imply/infer criteria/criterion data/datum cite/site
mostly, affect is the verb among for more than two Imply is your intention.
• Each of the ideas are very helpful.
• None of the tubes have been tested.
• The projected increase in production rate and period, in spite of lowered profit margins, are sufficient to keep the company solvent.
• The data gathered by a prominent researcher has proven to be false.
• A band of gypsies has been camping here.
Dandown many times in the past, we knew that we could not rely on that equipment.