第四章：科技论文常犯的错误 --《英语科技写作（文法与修辞原则）》by 方克涛...-CSDN博客

1 注意主语的前后一致性

bad eg: To design an effective system, information about users' needs should be collected first.

good eg: To design an effective system, the programmers must first collected information about users' needs.

分析：是programmer 要design a system，因此programmer要作为句子后半部分的主语。

当句子不存在这样的主语时，可以换一种描述方式

bad eg：To solve this bottleneck, a small, fast memory buffer was placed between the central processor and main memory.

good eg: This bottleneck is solved by replacing a small, fast memory buffer between the central processor and main memory.

分析：要解决这个瓶颈，是人想要解决，但是后面的句子不包括人的成分，因此我们换了一种写作方式，使得句子更舒服。

2 程度副词的位置

程度副词(像是only, nearly, almost, even以及其他类似的词)应该直接放在它们所修饰的词的前面。

bad eg: The system only needs three iterations to find the solution.

good eg: The system needs only three iterations to find the solution.

分析：only 修饰的是three而不是need，只需要三个。

bad eg：The computation took two seconds approximately.

good eg: The computation took approximately two seconds.

分析：将近2秒钟，approximately 是用来衡量2秒钟的。

下面的例子说明了当副词的位置不同，句子的意思不一致：

eg1：The calculations are nearly all completed.

eg2: The calculations are all nearly completed.

分析：eg1说明所有的计算大部分都已经完成，但是有几项还没有完成。eg2的意思是，所有的计算都还没完成，但是每一项计算都已经完成了大部分。

其他的副词

当副词修饰动词时，常常紧跟在动词后面，或者直接放在动词之前。然而，有时候将其放在句末，句子反而共同顺。

eg：The new algorithm quickly and accurately finds the solution.

good eg: The new algorithm finds the solution quickly and accurately.

分析：后面这句更通顺。

good eg：The solution can easily be found by using the following method.

3 避免不合适的修饰词

bad eg: Then a new design is proposed for the system in the second section.

good eg: Then, in the second section, a new design is proposed for the system.

分析：这样写可以很清晰的理解，在第二个部分，一个好的设计被提出。

4 关系子句

关系子句一般紧跟着它所修饰的词。

bad eg: A laser disk drive is used in the CD-ROM device that is the same size as a traditional 5.25-inch drive.

good eg: A laser disk drive that is the same size as a traditional 5.25-inch drive is used in the CD-ROM device.

分析：bad eg里头后面的关系子句（that……drive）修饰的是device，而正确的应该是修饰drive。

5 副词子句

当句子中含有多个名词时，将子句提前，句子的意思更清晰。

bad eg: The samples were used in the experiments after they were doped with boron.

good eg: After they were doped with boron the samples were used in the experiments.

分析：bad eg中子句（after……boron）是在修饰experiment，但实际上他的意思是在修饰sample，样本被灌入了铅。而good eg将子句提前，就是在修饰sample。而good eg也可以写成After samples were doped with boron the samples were used in the experiments.在中文中，感觉这句更好，但是在英文里，这句和good eg实际上差不多。因为英语是就近修饰。

6 单复数

如果一个单位前恰好有一个数字，除非这个数字为1，否则单位就应该为负数（小于1也要用负数）。

7 指代不清

在英文文章中，应避免在同一个句子中使用多个代名词来表示不同的意思。

bad eg: If a diode fails the quality test, it is necessary to replace it.

good eg: If a diode fails the quality test, it must be replaced.

8 复合名词

eg: a research paper, mathematics textbooks, the electronics laboratory

注意中文说的时候通常会想在其中添加一个“的”，所以翻译的时候，常常会将复合名词改写成所有格（。。。的）的形式，这样是错误的。

good eg：a laser printer controller, a home entertainment center

bad eg: a laser printer's controller, a home's entertainment center

分析：复合名词是可以放一起的，不用一定要用的连接。