英语论文写作技巧-2
觉得有用的话,欢迎一起讨论相互学习~Follow Me
参考文献
修饰词与被修饰词要临近
- 科技写作要求严谨,明确.为了严格定义一个事物,往往要加上限制性的修饰词或短句.比如描写实验用的 mice 时,一般不会只说 mice ,而是用类似“NCI-H23 tumor bearing female athymic nude mice” 的描述 .前面有5个修饰词来定义研究用的mice 这时一般把最窄的定义写在最前面,最广的定义写在后面.修饰语要靠近同被修饰的对象 .因修饰语和被修饰的词被隔开,而造成意思混乱的情况很多 .下面是一些例子.
- Inhibition of Acid B on xanthine oxidase was also reported.
还报道了酸性黄嘌呤氧化酶的抑制。
Inhibition of 后面应紧跟 xanthine oxidase , 而不是 Acid B, 隔开后句子就很难读 .
宜改为: Inhibition of xanthine oxidase by Acid B was also reported.
还报道了酸B对黄嘌呤氧化酶的抑制作用
- The chelating activities for ferrous ion of the Acid B were assessed.
评估了酸B的亚铁离子的螯合活性
The chelating activities 后面应紧跟 Acid B , 而不是 ferrous ion.
宜改为: The chelating activities of the Acid B for ferrous ion were assessed.
评估了酸B对亚铁离子的螯合活性
- Reducing power represents the electron donating capacity, which may serve as a significant indicator of potential antioxidant activity.
降低功率代表给电子能力,这可以作为潜在抗氧化活性的重要指标。
用 which 开头的修饰句 , 是要修饰 reducing power , 而不是修饰 electron donating capacity , 所以要紧跟在 reducing power 后面 .
宜改为: Reducing power, which may serve as a significant indicator of potential antioxidant activity, represents the electron donating capacity. 或 : Reducing power represents the electron donating capacity. It may serve as a significant indicator of potential antioxidant activity.
- Inhibition of Acid B on xanthine oxidase was also reported.
主语和谓语在句子中的位置要靠近
- 要使句子的可读性强,有两个因素特别需要注意.
一是句子的长短要合适. 研究表明一个句子中有 13-20个字时最合适阅读.太短的句子有零碎的感觉,而太长的句子读起来有困难.
二是主语和谓语动词要靠近.如果被隔开太远,就会有被隔离的感觉 ,句子读起来就会比较困难,虽然从语法上来讲是可行的.这主要同人类大脑处理文字信息的过程和方式有关.当人们读到主语时,自然而然地期望知道主语后面的行动,也就是结果.在行动(谓语)出现之前,读者需要记住主语是什么,同时又要阅读和理解下面的文字读起来很累.就像要屏住呼吸等待要发生的事情,只有当谓语出现,知道了主题的行动后,才能呼出这口气.时间长了自然不舒服.
- Lincomycin , one of the lincosamide antimicrobial agents which was first isolated more than fifty years ago , is used as a major antibiotic for the treatment of diseases caused by most Gram-positive bacteria.
- 宜改为: Lincomycin is one of the lincosamide antimicrobial agents which were first isolated more than fifty years ago. It is used as a major antibiotic for the treatment of diseases caused by most Gram-positive bacteria.
名词作形容词
- 科技写作中经常会用名词来作为形容词使用,如 room temperature, university researchers.
当用一个名词来修饰另一个名词时,意义一般都很清楚 . 但当三个名词放在一起,或两个名词前再加一个形容词时,就要小心.有的情况下,3个或3个以上的名词放在一起,表达的意思很清楚, 也是一种很简洁的表达方式. 如 : blood white cell number, prostate cancer patient, Beijing University medical school student.
但有时会有多种讲法.Top university researchers可以是 researchers of (only) top university也可以是 (all) university researchers who are top.多个名词排在一起,即使表达明确,也给拥挤的感觉.应避免使用多个名词的修饰方式.最好的办法是用介词或其它方式来把他们分开,以便清楚表达它们的修饰关系.多个名词罗列的情况经常发生,下面多举一些例子.
- He wrote the quality control group reports.
宜改为: He wrote the reports of the quality control group.
- The patient showed chronic liver disease symptoms.
宜改为: The patient showed symptoms of chronic liver disease.
- The human brain oxygen level is quite high.
宜改为: The oxygen level in human brain is quite high.
- Their specific inhibition producing effects on fat containing food intake were assessed.
宜改为: Their specific effects of inhibition on the intake of fat containing food were assessed.
- The present investigation evaluated various specific drug sample combinations.
宜改为: The present investigation evaluated various combinations of specific drug samples
- He wrote the quality control group reports.
句子的时态(有待考证)
- 科技论文中基本上只用现在时和过去时两种时态.有的作者偶尔会使用完成时.完成时一般只用于多次并一直在研究的情况.其他的时态用得很少.论文中的时态有它特定的意义.时态用来表明科研成果的认知程度
- 当描述已发表的文献成果时,用现在时,因为已发表的成果被承认是事实.描述未发表的实验和结果时,用过去时,因为还没有得到承认,并且是写论文以前做的事情.由于科技论文中的时态的特定用法,写作中经常需要转换时态.一句话中都可能用两个时态.总起来说,Abstract中要讲述自己的实验和结论,要用过去时.Introduction中要总结文献和问题 , 以现在时为主,也用一些过去时.Methods 和 Results 都是讲自己的实验和结果,用过去时.而 Discussion中则需要根据描述文献还是自己的实验,需要交换使用现在时和过去时 .
- 在引述文献结果时,过去发表的结论可以认为是已经被承认的事实,应该用现在时.但引述过去的实验时,特别是以作者为主语时,因是过去做的事情,应该用过去时.
- Wang showed that the rate of growth is dependent on temperature.
Smith studied the growth rate and reported that it is dependent on temperature.
- Wang showed that the rate of growth is dependent on temperature.
- 若作者不是主语 , 而作者的研究是主语时,用现在时.
- Investigation by Wang shows that the rate of growth is dependent on temperature.
- 当描述自己的实验和实验结果时,应用过去时.因为是在写文章以前做的事情,并且还没被接受为事实(发表).
- We measured its plasma concentration and found that it was two times higher in obesity patients than in normal population.
- 讲述 table 或 figure 中显示的结果时,可以用现在时.
- Table 4 shows that growth was dependent on temperature.
- 计算的结果和统计分析结果应该用现在时.
- The calculated value is significantly lower indicating most of the dissolved compound was degraded.
主动句和被动句
- 许多人认为科技论文都应该用被动句,不要加入个性的成分. 现在越来越多的杂志提倡使用主动句 , 因为主动句更简洁和明确. 把 “ it is reported by the authors of this paper that” 改为 "We reported that" 就显得更简要和直接 . 下面是个例子 :
In 2002 we reported the synthesis of anthramycin analogues and their DNA binding activities studied by gel electrophoresis.
但实验部分还是主要使用被动句. 用 “The drug concentration was measured by HPLC” 而一般不用 “ We measured the drug concentration by HPLC”.
标点符号的使用
- 英文科技论文写作中经常使用的标点符号有逗号,句号和分号.冒号和问号使用的情况很少,而惊叹号几乎就不会被使用.现在分号使用的也逐渐减少,一般用句号取代.一篇论文中只是使用逗号和句号也是正常的.句号的使用比较明确,下面主要对逗号的使用作一些说明.逗号虽然很小,但要表达清楚你要传达的信息却离不开它.比如下面的例子,没有逗号时句子不好读.加逗号后,逗号放在不同的地方,意思完全不同 .
- Although it was incubated at 50 o C for 24 hours no reaction occurred.
- Although it was incubated at 50 o C for 24 hours, no reaction occurred.
- Although it was incubated at 50 o C, for 24 hours no reaction occurred.
- 逗号是用来分开两个独立的句子,下面的句子是可以的 .
- Ethanol is used to replace gasoline, and it is produced from corn.
- 下面的句子就不合适 , 因为逗号后面不是一个完整的句子 .
- Ethanol is used to replace gasoline, and is produced from corn.
- 当一个长的语句出现在句子的前面时,要用逗号分开.若语句不长,不需要停顿,也可以不用逗号 .
- During the process of solvent removal, some crystalline solid was formed.
- During the process precipitate was formed.
数字的写法
- 科技论文离不开数字.数字的一种写法是用英文字,如 three, thirteen. 另一种是写阿拉伯数字.具体用哪种写法可参照以下几个简单的规则.
少于10的整数用英文字,大于或等于10的数字用阿拉伯数字
thee experiments
one assay
23 birds
6,500 miles
有小数点和单位的数字用阿拉伯数字
1.2 hours
5 percent
3 am
Page 3
在句子开头的数字用英文字
- 英语的一个句子的开始是用大写字母来表明的.如果是一个数字,那就不能起到表示一个句子开始的作用.所以不能用数字开始一个句子.这时要把数字用英文字写出,或最好能修改句子不用数字开头.一个经常被使用的办法是把表示数量的数字放到括号中去.
- 10 ml ethanol was added.(不推荐)
- Ten ml ethanol was added.
- Ethanol (10 ml) was added.
- 30 eggs were used daily during the study.
宜改为: During the study, 30 eggs were used daily.
当两个数字前后并列出现时 , 一个要用英文,另一个使用数字表示,当两个数字前后并列出现时, 若都写成数字或文字, 容易产生混乱.
three eight-rat groups 改成 three 8-rats groups
3 8-rats groups 改成 three 8-rats groups
two 5-day study
12 two-engine airplanes
小于1的数字的单位用单数,大于1的数字的单位复数
0.25 gram
0.8 second
1.5 grams
3.45 seconds
零后面的单位用复数
zero meters
0 meters
单位的缩写单数和复数是一样的
0.1 ml
15 ml
冠词的使用
- 使用冠词是英语的特点,中文没有相应字词.对定冠词the和不定冠词a/an 的使用往往掌握不好,最常见的是漏掉 不定冠词 .
- There has been increase in loss of agricultural land.
宜改为: There has been an increase in the loss of agricultural land.
- Stresses at various locations in crank are calculated by using sets of unit load cases applied to single throw FE model .
宜改为: Stresses at various locations in the crank are calculated by using sets of unit load cases applied to a single throw FE model.
- There has been increase in loss of agricultural land.
- 定冠词the多用
- The alcohol is produced by the fermentation of the grains like corn and wheat.
酒精是通过玉米和小麦等谷物的发酵生产的。
宜改为: Alcohol is produced by the fermentation of grains like corn and wheat.
Alcohol 和 grains 都是泛指 , 不需要加定冠词 the.
- The alcohol is produced by the fermentation of the grains like corn and wheat.
- 除了是第一个字, 题目中的冠词不要大写
- The Dependence of Crystal Growth on the Solvents.
同位词的使用
- 写作中有时需要对新引述的事物或概念做简单解释和描述,但单写一个句子又会打断前后的连接.这时用同位词来解释是一个经常使用的方式.
- The Hallervorden – Spatz syndrome, a neurological disorder associated with iron accumulation, has been linked to a decline in cysteine dioxygenase activity.
Hallervorden - Spatz综合征是一种与铁积累相关的神经系统疾病,与半胱氨酸双加氧酶活性下降有关。
- The Hallervorden – Spatz syndrome, a neurological disorder associated with iron accumulation, has been linked to a decline in cysteine dioxygenase activity.
- 同位词应该同修饰的事物等位,说明是什么,而不能用来解释要修饰的事物的性质.下面句子中的同位词的使用就不合适.
- Penicillin, not stable in water , was developed during WWII.
青霉素,在水中不稳定,在第二次世界大战时被发明
多余的用词
- The supernatant was collected and concentrated in vacuum to evaporate the solvent.
- Concentrate 就是 evaporate the solvent , 后面的 to evaporate the solvent 是多余的.类似的把一些词的含义再次重复说明是最容易出现的多余用词.类似的 8PM in the evening, blue in color, small in size, in vivo animal models, in vitro cell cultures 都有多余用词的情况 .
- The results of activities of tested compounds were listed in Table 1.
- Results 是多余的.中文中经常写作“ 实验结果”“ 活性检测结果”,但英文中“结果”是不需要翻译出来的.
宜改为: The activities of tested compounds were listed in Table 1.
- Results 是多余的.中文中经常写作“ 实验结果”“ 活性检测结果”,但英文中“结果”是不需要翻译出来的.
- 下面的例句中, their 就是 acid B and D,二者要去掉一个
- The chemical mechanisms of their antioxidant activities of acid B and D were not well understood.
宜改为: The chemical mechanisms of the antioxidant activities of acid B and D were not well understood.
- The chemical mechanisms of their antioxidant activities of acid B and D were not well understood.
- 一些词组,如 it should be mentioned, it should be pointed out, it was found, it was determined, … 都是冗长和委婉地说法,应该直接说明.
原文地址:https://www.cnblogs.com/cloud-ken/p/9739282.html