英语写作常见问题

一、选词常见问题

准确而有效地用词依赖于平时的积累和准确理解。现将作文中经常出现的问题归纳总结如下，希望能对大家有所帮助。

（一）误用口语词汇或俚语

专业四级考试中的作文多为议论文，要求逻辑性强，结构紧凑，具有说服力，而口语体中多为简单句，结构松散，不适合表达这样的思想观点。请看下面这篇题为Why I Learn English的短文:

I think learning English is very important, especially to me. Well, if you ask me why, I’ll tell you some reasons. Let’s look at something in job market. Anyway if you can’t speak English, you can’t get a good job. Don’t you believe? Then another is to communicate with foreigners. You know, if you can’t speak English, how can you make your idea understood by them? You see, spoken English is getting more and more important. So why don’t I learn English well?

上文中的句式和用词都比较口语化，斜体部分都是典型的口语用词，在作文中应避免使用。我们将上文修改如下，作一比较：

To learn English is very important for the following two reasons: for one thing, with the increasing competitiveness in job market, college graduates are not only expected to obtain some special knowledge and technique in a field, but to have a good command of English to find a good job. For another, English is an international language which is necessary in communication with foreigners. In a word, I am determined to work hard at English to find a nice job and to communicate effectively with foreigners in English.

修改后的短文不但改掉了口语词汇，还使用了连接词和复合句，增强了文章的连贯性和逻辑性。

俚语尤其要避免使用，因为俚语给人的感觉极其随便，与议论文文体不符。而且有的带

有方言性，有的带有粗俗性，多出现在口语中和戏剧、电视、电影、小说的对白中，不适合书面文体使用。例如：

Ｍy friend Li Yong got the sack yesterday and I called to express my sympathy.

To get the sack是俚语，意为“被解雇”，有调侃之意，应将其改为was dismissed，使其与后面的to express my sympathy 保持风格一致。再如：

Ｍy little son is bloody intelligent.

Bloody是粗俗语，应改为very。

（二）喜用抽象词

抽象词往往偏长、大、难，如以configuration代替pattern，以counter-productive 代替ineffective。不少抽象动词以-ize, -ise后缀结尾，如casualize（雇用临时工）。过多且不适当地使用抽象词会使原本明白简单的句子变得隐晦含混，且给人以矫揉造作之感。请看例句：The desirability of attaining unanimity so far as the general construction of the body is concerned is of considerable importance from the production aspect.

此句用词抽象，结构繁冗，The desirability of attaining unanimity其实就是agree之意，so far as the general construction of the body is concerned即on a standard body,from the production aspect可改为for increased production。如此，上句可改写为：

To increase production, it is important to agree on a standard body.

因此我们在写作文时，可以化抽象为具体，化艰深为通俗，从抽象的意思中引出具体地意义，以意义显豁的词语代替意义含混的词语。

（三）词语的误用

在我们的作文中，经常会见到用词不当的情况，影响意义的表达。其原因多是由于对词汇的意义和用法掌握不够准确而造成的，具体说来有如下几点：

其一,误解词义。有些英语词汇看似汉语释义相同，但具体意义是有差异的。请看下列各句中的用词错误：

1)* Both salt and sugar are easy to melt in hot water.

2)* They persuaded their son to try again, but he just turned a deaf ear to them.

3)* It is uneasy for the children to do such a thing.

在例１）中，melt指物体受热熔化，而不是指溶质在溶剂中的溶解。例２）中的persuade