英文写作的词语
Highlights from Chapter 15 <<Writing Science>> by Joshua Schimel
1.
Words are to sentences what atoms are to molecules. They control the chemistry and “voice” of your writing — how it sounds and feels.
Choosing words is not easy. English has amassed words from many sources, and different words convey different impressions of what you are saying and even of who you are.
2.
Written English is different from spoken English, but the difference should be primarily in sentence structure, not vocabulary.
When the writing is good, we notice the ideas and the data, and those are what make the science.
3.
You need to use the terms that work for your audience. When you are trying to expand that audience, be sensitive to language and whether your technical terms are their jargon.
1) Avoiding jargon
If you introduce a term in the topic position, readers interpret it as something they are supposed to know and are more likely to see it as jargon. If, however, you introduce a term in a sentence’s stress, you dejargonize it.
There is no single perfect place to introduce terms. You have to evaluate your audience and what they know. If you err, err on the side of overdefining.
2) Jargon and Acronyms
The worst form of jargon is undefined abbreviations and acronyms. Terms must be spelled out on their first occurrence.
Spelling out your acronyms and abbreviations the first time you use them takes a few more words but makes the paper easier for everyone involved.
Remember principle 1 is to make the reader’s job easy. Name things for their convenience, not yours.
4.
Unnecessarily technical
The common word is more powerful — it engages a stronger schema.
5.
Emotional Weight
Good choices of words can make the characters soar, bad choices can make them land, painfully.
Long French or Latin words vs. Short Anglo-Saxon Words:
Duration vs Length or time
Consume vs Eat
Mortality vs Death
Permit vs Let
Necessary vs Need
Demonstrate vs Show
Donate vs Give
Initiate vs Start
Attempt vs Try
Utilize vs Use
Methodology vs Method
As a guideline, words ending in -ate are derived from Latin and sound heavy and full of themselves. Words ending with -ion are French. If you’re not sure about a word, consult the Oxford English Dictionary — it gives the word’s origin and meanings.
6.
Prepositional phrases vs. compound nouns
Prepositional phrases are usually nasty — longer and clunkier than the compound noun. They also have a strange attraction for nominalizations and passive verbs.
Usually, the compound noun is better. These expressions are short, clear, and effective ways of combining two things to build a more complex idea. You should generally turn prepositional phrases around to condense them, as illustrated in the following examples.
Prepositional Phrase vs. Compound Noun:
Source of water vs. Water source
Supply of nitrogen vs. Nitrogen supply
Distribution of resources vs. Resource distribution
Kinetics of enzymes vs. Enzyme kinetics
Burning of fossil fuels vs. Fossil fuel burning
Cancer of the lung vs. Lung cancer
7.
When to use Prepositional Phrases
Noun clusters or noun trains are worse than prepositional phrases. You can break them up into manageable pieces by using the occasional preposition.
If there are only two nouns, a compound is almost certainly better. If there are four nouns, break them up. Three is trickier, look at the complexity of the words.