【英语】英语写作指导与进阶课笔记&答案(二)

2.2x

第一天

1. a dandelion 蒲公英

2. a harpist playing a harp 竖琴

3. beads 有孔小珠

4. a snail on some gravel 砾石

5. a rooster 公鸡

6. lilypads 睡莲

7. a bench on a bluff 虚张声势，悬崖峭壁

8. a parachute and parachutist by a mountain and forest

9. cacti (cactuses) 仙人掌

Quiz: Word Forms： B A A B A A A B B A

Quiz: Vocabulary in Context: C B D C C B B D A B

第二天

1.21 Errors in Diction

There are two main sources of error in diction:

 

1. Choosing the wrong word. This can happen because of confusion between homonyms (words that sound alike but are spelled differently), or because the meaning of the word isn't fully understood.

 

2. Choosing colloquial, or less formal spoken language when standard or more formal language is called for (or vice versa). In academic writing, formal diction is generally expected.

 

Here are 21 common errors made in writing formal diction. How many of these usage errors have you made?

 

1. A lot/lots of

Colloquial: Diana likes her apartment a lot.
Formal: Diana likes her apartment very much.

 

Colloquial: There are lots of books in our library.
Formal: There are many books in our library.

 

2. Among/between
(Tip: Among involves more than two; between involves only two)

 

Colloquial: Discussions between our group members were often very lively.

Discussions Formal: Discussions among our group members were often very lively.

 

 

3. Around/ about
(Tip:  Don't use around to indicate time, distance, or other quantity.)

 

Colloquial: The class usually begins around nine. 
Formal: The class usually begins at about nine.

 

4. Badly
(Tip: "Badly" is not a substitute for "very much.")

 

Colloquial: The team wanted to win really badly.
Formal: The team wanted desperately to win.

 

5. Based off of

Colloquial: Based off of that information,  we can move ahead with the plan.
Formal: Based on that information, we can move ahead with the plan.

 

6. Because 
(Tip: Don't use "because" after " reason.")

 

Colloquial: The reason for our flight delay is because of bad weather.
Formal: The reason for our flight delay is the bad weather.

 

7. A bunch/bunches
(Tip: Use bunch or bunches only for things that are bound or grow together, like bananas and grapes; it is not used for other countable nouns.)

 

Colloquial: A bunch of us are going to the movies tonight. 
Formal: A group of us are going to the movies tonight.
Formal: There are three bunches of bananas on the counter.

 

8. Each other/one another 
(Tip: Each other refers to two, one another refers to more than two.)

 

Colloquial: Everyone at the party wished each other a happy new year.
Formal: Everyone at the party wished one another a happy new year.
Formal: My sister and I wished each other a happy new year.

 

9. Guys

Colloquial: I hope you guys can join me at the restaurant.
Formal: I hope all of you can join me at the restaurant.

 

10. In / Into
(Tip:  "In" means "within" or "inside", while "into" refers to the motion of going from outside to inside.)

 

Colloquial: Bill went in the bus station to buy a ticket.
Formal: Bill went into the bus station to buy a ticket.

 

11. Infer/imply
(Tip: To infer is an act of thinking, to imply is an act of saying something.)

 

Incorrect:  I saw your memo about a noon meeting. Are you inferring that we should have lunch together?
Correct: I saw your memo about a noon meeting. Are you implying that we should have lunch together?

 

12. It's/its

Incorrect: The committee has reached it's goals this year.
Correct: The committee has reached its goals this year.

 

13. Kind of / sort of
(Tip: Don't use "kind of" or "sort of" when you mean "very" , "rather," or "somewhat." ) 

 

Colloquial: Jim was sort of angry when he learned we went to the park without him.
Formal: Jim was somewhat upset when he learned we went to the park without him.

 

14. Less than/fewer than
(Tip: Use less than only with uncountable nouns.)

 

Colloquial: There are less people in the store today than yesterday.
Formal: There are fewer people in the store today than yesterday.

 

15. Like / as
(Tip: Use "as" when comparing actions, "like" when comparing things.)

 

Colloquial: Alan wants to write a new essay, just like Sarah does.
Formal: Alan wants to write a new essay just as Sarah does.

 

16. Like / maybe
(Tip: Avoid using "like" and "maybe" when estimating; use "approximately", "perhaps" or "about" instead.) 

 

Colloquial: There were like thirty people at my birthday party.
Formal: There were approximately thirty people at my birthday party.

 

17. Meantime

Colloquial: Meantime, the rain continued to pour.
Formal: In the meantime, the rain continued to pour.
Formal: Meanwhile, the rain continued to pour.

 

18. On account of

Colloquial: On the account of the weather, our plane was late.
Formal: Because of the weather, our plane was late.

 

19. Plenty

Colloquial: It has been plenty warm all week.
Formal: It has been very warm all week. 

 

20. So
(Tip: Don't use "so" as a synonym for "therefore".)

 

Colloquial: Dmitry knew that I missed class, so he shared his notes.
Formal: Dmitry knew that I missed class; therefore, he shared his notes.

 

Colloquial: This week's homework is so difficult.
Formal: This week's homework is very difficult.

 

21. They're/their/there

Incorrect: Do you know if their going to the party?
Correct: Do you know if they're going to the party?

 

Incorrect: What is there address?
Correct: What is their address?

2.connotation 内涵；含蓄；暗示，隐含意义；

A connotation is an idea or feeling that a word may hold that is in addition to its main meaning (or denotation). These additional meanings are often cultural or emotional in nature, so they can be hard to understand if you only consult a dictionary.

For example, look at these four words: cheap, frugal, miserly, economical. Two of these words have positive meanings and the other two have negative meanings. All of them mean the quality of saving money by spending very little. (Answer: cheap and miserly are negative, meaning someone who is unreasonable in their spending habits; frugal and economical have positive associations, meaning someone who is careful about spending money). 

When you make notes on vocabulary items in your notebook, sometimes it is helpful to put a + (plus) next to a word with a positive connotation, and a - (minus) next to those with negative connotations.  Some words, of course, are neutral, being neither negative or positive. Furthermore, some are so negative as to be insulting or unacceptable.

The groups of words in each set have similar meanings, but different connotations. Using online sources, such as http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/, search engines, or other sources, see if you can learn something about the connotations of each word in the group. 

1. Childlike, youthful, childish, young, immature, juvenile

2. Chubby, fat, plump, overweight

3. Confident, secure, proud, egotistical

4. Cute, knockout, beautiful, stunning

5. Disabled, crippled, handicapped, differently abled, retarded

6. Inquisitive, interested, curious, nosy

7. Relaxed, laid-back, lackadaisical, lazy, easy-going

8. Slim, skinny, slender, thin, bony

9. Talkative, conversational, chatty, garrulous

Quiz: Diction： A A B A B B A A

Quiz: Negative or positive?: A C C A B A

Quiz: Identifying Tone： D A B ACD C

unfeeling 无情的，冷酷的；无感觉的

courteous 有礼貌的; 客气的; (尤指)恭敬的，谦恭的;

pretentious 自命不凡的; 炫耀的; 虚夸的;

sophisticated 精密的; 先进的; 老练的; 见多识广的; 见过世面的; 复杂巧妙的; 水平高的; 在行的;

sarcastic 讽刺的; 挖苦的; 嘲讽的;

第三天

1.what causes wordiness?

Wordiness is using more words than you need to in order to write what you mean.  Everyone has a tendency to be too wordy at times. Some of the causes of this wordiness are:

- Trying to sound too formal or academic. Unfortunately, in academic writing, there are a lot of examples of wordy writing. This doesn't mean you have to model your writing on bad examples. Your readers will always appreciate if you state your ideas clearly, and using no more words than needed.

- Not knowing more precise vocabulary.  For example, saying, She ran quickly to the store can be made somewhat less wordy, and more precise, by saying: She raced to the store (race=run quickly). Finding the right vocabulary can help you cut down the number of words you use. Every reduction helps, even if it's only a word or two.

- Using too many unnecessary and vague modifiers.  Typically, modifiers like really, very, quite, and similar words add no meaning to your writing. If you need to modify a word, find precise modifiers. For example, instead of There's a really tall building near my house, write: There's a 50-story building near my house.  

- Using too many prepositional phrases or possessives. These types of phrases can add length to your sentences, often unnecessarily. So, instead of The car belonging to Mr. Wang is in the garage [10 words], write: Mr. Wang's car is in the garage [7 words].

 

Wordy	Concise
based on the fact that	because
despite the fact that	although
in the event that	if
at the present time	now
until such a time as	until
on a weekly basis	weekly
it is often the case that	often
have the ability to	can
during the course of	during
take under consideration	consider
to be of the opinion	to think
to make reference to	to refer to
in the final analysis	finally

 

2.History of Englsh spelling

The English alphabet is based on the Roman alphabet that was brought to England in the 600s. The Roman alphabet was designed for a language with a very different sound system, namely Latin. The Roman alphabet was never truly adapted for writing in English. The first people writing English with Roman letters added new characters to represent the sounds found in English, but not in Latin. With this, the complication of the spelling:sound relationship began.

Various other historical events, like the Norman Conquest of 1066, also affected the way English sounded and was spelled. In fact, English has developed as a mix of different languages, and continues to add words (as most languages do) through borrowing vocabulary from other languages. English has been most heavily affected by Latin, Greek, Anglo-Saxon (West Germanic), and French, but it has borrowed from other languages as well.  

Quiz: Spelling: ACD BDE ADE BDE

Homework: Grammar: AB

occurrence n.

triage 患者鉴别分类; 伤员鉴别分类; 治疗类选法;

 第四天

Topic discussion： AB

第五天

1.How, when, and what to revise

What's the difference? Revision refers to substantial changing of a text, for example, re-organizing ideas and paragraphs, providing additional examples or information, rewriting a conclusion for clarity, and so forth. Editing, on the other hand, refers to correcting mistakes in spelling, grammar, punctuation, and so on.

2.CHECK FOR LOGICAL ORDER

This is an interesting activity I often do with my students in writing classes here at Berkeley. I'll describe it, but there is also a short video demonstrating it.

Take something you're writing--your draft for this class for example. Follow these instructions:

1. Make a copy of it on your computer so you are working with a new version.

2. At the end of every sentence, put a 'return' and leave a few spaces. Do this for your entire piece of writing.

3. Adjust the size or spacing so you can see only two sentences on your screen. Read the sentences aloud. As a pair of sentences, do they work together? That is, does one sentence follow logically from the one before it?

4. Now, scroll down so you see your second sentence + third sentence only on the screen. Ask the same question: does one sentence lead to another? If it doesn't, add transitions, pronouns, or other information to make the two sentences work together.

Do this process for your entire essay--yes, it's long and time-consuming, but you'll get faster at it. This exercise will really help you with understanding organization, transitions, and how your writing works together, not just as a series of disconnected sentences.

3.Read Backwards

This is a common technique used by writers: read your paper backwards.

We often become "blind" to our own mistakes, seeing the correct word or grammar on the page when it really isn't there. In order to break this pattern you can read your writing backwards, phrase by phrase, or word by word. This will help you see your text in a new way.

Quiz: Revision and Editing： C A C

Quiz: Revision and Editing 2： 3 5 1 4 2