Recently, an article entitled "after reading 200 Chinese students' papers, I found these amazing phenomena..." The article topped the list of popular videos on station B. According to LinkedIn data, Felicia brittman, the author of the paper, is a patent examiner. She served as a guest lecturer at Shanghai Jiaotong University from 2002 to 2003 and is proficient in Chinese. In short, a foreigner can't help writing something for guidance after reading the English articles of Chinese students.
Thesis address:< https://www.chrisyttang.org/assets/misc/The%20Most%20Common%20Habits%20from%20more%20than%20200%20English%20Papers%20written.pdf >
As for the title of the paper, this guide is for engineering students, but many of its contents are grammar related. Therefore, all majors can refer to it.
The main content of this paper is to summarize some common idioms of Chinglish, including grammar, style, format, etc., explain the reasons for these "wrong habits", and give the ways to modify and avoid these mistakes. Obviously, this paper can help the tutor lose some hair ☺~
The following is the translation of the core ideas of the paper. I hope readers of AI science and technology review can get some help when submitting English articles.
Background: international journal papers are "hard indicators"
Some Chinese universities require their students to publish at least one English paper in international journals when granting their doctoral and master's degrees in engineering. This task is very difficult for some students. The main reasons are as follows:
1. Exam oriented English education does not pay attention to writing, let alone technical paper writing, and some training plans weaken English training, resulting in the decline of students' English level. 2. Most students have never been in English speaking countries
3. Technical papers have their particularity. Even students whose native language is English need to study them carefully.
The above facts led to the fact that the Chinese student union was returned because the English writing of the paper was not standardized. If possible, students can hire foreigners who speak English to edit papers, but the pay is considerable. Even so, the foreigner you are looking for may not be a person in the field and can only give some grammatical suggestions. Some wrong professional terms may not be recognized. In short, if you are not familiar with the theme or field of the edited article, it is difficult for the "paper change" person to grasp the overall meaning of the article, so it is difficult to edit the paper to the point.
First of all, it's not easy to find the right person to help you with the revision of your thesis; Moreover, maybe he can help you revise your paper, but he may not be able to avoid similar mistakes in future writing
So, rely on yourself! Only when we are clearly aware of these common mistakes and grammatical inertia and avoid making similar mistakes can we really benefit from writing.
One of the common mistakes: omitting articles
Chinese students often omit articles, which is actually a wrong habit. The reason may be that there are no equivalent words in Mandarin and English articles, and there are no relevant grammatical rules, so they use articles somewhat "awkward".
After the article is a noun. Any rhetorical word of the noun should be between the article and the noun. For example:
-A big blue bicycle
-The first award
Where a and an are indefinite articles; The is a definite article. When facing singular uncountable nouns and countable nouns, we need similar articles as qualifiers.
Common errors: 1 Omit when the article should not be omitted; 2. When there is no need to use articles; 3. Use the wrong article.
For example:
Wrong sentence 1:
Figure 2 shows the distribution of relative velocity on surface of main and splitter blades correct the error: the article should be added before surface and main and splitter blades respectively. Wrong sentence 2: the software powershape is chosen to be a 3D modeling tool ; It is good at dealing with free surfaces and curves
In this study, there is only one kind of 3Dmodeling tool, and specific things need to use the definite article the.
Wrong sentence 3:
A theoretical method for calculating the inner flow-field in centrifugal impeller with splitter blades and investigation of the interactions between main and splitter blades is presented in this paper. The vortices are distributed on the main and splitter blades to simulate the effects of flows. Systematical study of number and distribution of vortices is conducted. Correct the error: add an before the investigation of the interactions; Add the before number and distribution. Relevant definitions are given below:
-Article: as mentioned earlier, a and an are indefinite articles; The is a definite article. After the article is a noun. Any rhetorical word of the noun should be between the article and the noun.
-Determiner: usually composed of a word or phrase, which can be "regarded" as an adjective. A determiner can indicate whether a noun refers generally or specifically. For example, the tree emphasizes that the tree is special and specific; A tree refers to a tree in a general sense and has no special meaning.
-Common noun: a noun of the general category of people or things, such as dog and house.
-Countable noun: as the name suggests, a noun that can be counted. For example, radio, streets, idea, fingernails.
-Uncountable noun: an uncountable noun. For example, water and time.
Common mistake 2: long sentences
In China, students especially like to write long sentences. The reason may be that it is first written in Chinese and then translated into English. Because in Chinese writing, a sentence expresses several arguments, which is very persuasive. But in English, the main arguments and each argument are generally placed in a separate sentence.
Identifying long sentences is very simple. Just look at the length of the sentence: more than 60 words. In addition, if a sentence contains a lot of content and the argument becomes unclear, there are not many words in the timely sentence, it is also a long sentence. By limiting each sentence to only one or two topics, you can avoid long sentences in the article. If the author really wants to emphasize the relationship between arguments, they should be separated by semicolons.
Error example 1: recording to the characteristic of fan coil air conditioning systems, this paper derives the cooling formula of fan coil units based on the heat transfer theories and puts forward a new method to gauge cooling named cooling method on the air side, which can monitor the individual air-conditioning cooling consumption during a period of time by detecting the parameters of inlet air condition – temperature and humidity – of the fan-coil air-conditioning system as well as the parameters of inlet cooling water provided by the chiller. This paper derives the cooling formula of fan coil units based on the characteristics of fan coil air conditioning systems and heat transfer theories, and puts forward a new method to gauge cooling called cooling method on the air side The new method can monitor individual air-conditioning cooling consumption during a period of time by detecting the condition of inlet air – temperature and humidity – of the fan-coil air-conditioning system as well as the parameters of the inlet cooling water provided by the chiller.
In technical papers, super long sentences often appear because of enumeration. In this case, the author wants to provide a large amount of data, which are generally parameter values. A sentence containing this information can even become a paragraph. The solution is in the form of a list.
Wrong sentence 1:
correct the error:
Wrong sentence 2:
correct the error:
Common mistake 3: opening "too empty"
Chinese students usually do not put the main point at the beginning of the sentence, but put the purpose, place, reason, case or current situation of writing in the topic sentence as the introduction. However, this will weaken the importance of the main point and make readers think that the author is not directly relevant. Therefore, the main point must be put at the beginning of the sentence, and then state the place, reason, etc.
For the application in automobile interiors, this paper studies the nesting optimization problem in other manufacturing This paper studies the nesting optimization problem in other manufacturing for application in automotive interiors Wrong sentence 2: inside the test box, the space was filled with asbestos The space inside the test box was filled with asbestos
Chinese writers also like to put time phrases at the beginning of sentences. For example:
Error sentence 1: when u is taken as the control parameter, the BDS for ∆ = 0.0, 0.001, 0.005 are shown in Fig. 8 Figure 8 shows the BDS for ∆ = 0.0, 0.001, and 0.005 when u is taken as the control parameter
Put the most important subject at the beginning of the sentence to show emphasis.
Wrong sentence 1: Based on the triangle structure build from unorganized points or a CAD model, the extended STL format is described in this section The extended STL format is described in this section based on the triangle structure build from unorganized points or a CAD model
Common mistake 4: the usage of 'perspective' and 'perspective' is confused
Perspective refers to two or more people or things, and can only be in the order previously specified or mentioned. When using perspective, the author can give a lot of information at the same time without confusing the reader. Perspective is generally used at the end of a sentence. In any case, the use of perspective means that the order in which information is mentioned is very important for the expression of sentence meaning, otherwise don't use it.
For example, Bobby, Nicole and Daren wear red, green and blue coats respectively**
Perspective refers to referring to more than two people or things, and strictly follow the order in which they were originally mentioned.
Common mistake 5: abuse 'in this paper' and 'in this study'
When Chinese scholars write English papers, they want to see "in this paper" and "in this study" appear more than twice on each page. Native English speakers usually use this phrase only in two cases: 1. Emphasize the main content of the article in the introduction and conclusion.
- In the text, point out the shortcomings of "predecessors", and then lead to your own work.
Therefore, if there are more than three phrases in an English paper, there is a problem. In fact, the reader fully understands that the work shown in the article is done by the author, so there is no need to repeat the phrase a lot.
Also, the phrases' in this paper 'and' in this study 'are often used interchangeably. For example:
Study is the work done by the author, and paper is the way the author states his work. Give two similar phrases: in this research and this paper present.
Common error 6: numbers and equations
Chinese scholars are used to replacing Arabic numerals with words. The use of Arabic numerals is not a mistake in itself, but it must not be used at the beginning of a sentence. For example:
Wrong sentence 1:
12 parameters were selected for the experiment. Correct errors: two parameters were selected for the experiment
In addition, Arabic numerals are overused. Arabic numerals shall be used to provide data in technical papers, but Arabic numerals shall not be used to provide general information.
Wrong sentence 1:
All 3 studies included that the mean temperature should be 30 ° C
Equations should be used as much as possible, but they should not be inserted into sentences instead of words. Some journals, such as the International Journal of production research, do not encourage the use of equation expressions in the text, even short expressions cannot be used. For example:
Wrong sentence: if the power battery SOC & gt; SOC_ Lo and the driving torque belongs to the middle load,... If the power battery SOC is greater than SOC_ lo and the driving torque belongs to the middle load,…
Seven common mistakes: misuse of 'such as' and' etc. '
"Such as" means, for example, incomplete enumeration, etc. means the same as "and so on", etc. it is used at the end of the enumeration to indicate that the enumeration is not complete. If you use two phrases in a sentence, it's very uncomfortable, for example:
Wrong sentence: studies of methodology and process of implementing remanufacturing mainly focus on durable products such as automobile motors, printers, and etc. correct writing: studies of methodology and process of implementing remanufacturing mainly focus on durable products such as automobile motors, and printers
*In addition, such as * means that an incomplete list will be given and should not be used when giving a complete list.
Format tips: paragraph
A paragraph is a set of sentences about a topic or idea. Paragraphs are separate, indicating the end of one idea or idea and the beginning of another. All English paragraphs start on another line, indent by about an inch or separate the two paragraphs with a line.
Avoid two kinds of mistakes: first, it can't segment well. Although a new line is added to the new paragraph, without indentation, the reader cannot grasp that the paragraph has switched to the next paragraph, or does not realize that the article is aware of another topic. Second, before a paragraph, there is a separate sentence on a separate line. This line is indented with the following paragraphs. This is common in Chinese writing, but not in English.
Format tips: charts and variables
The abbreviations of figure and table are Fig. and TBL respectively, and the abbreviation of table is very rare. You can use Fig. as the abbreviation of figure. If you decide to use an abbreviation, you can only use this abbreviation in the whole article, and you can't switch between Fig. and FIG. In addition, abbreviations cannot be used at the beginning of sentences, and spaces should be used between words / abbreviations and numbers.
Variables, especially those in the English alphabet, should be expressed in italics in technical papers to distinguish them from English words. Of course, it depends on the style required by the journal.
Details tips
- Some words have the same singular and plural forms and can become plural without adding s after them, including: Literature (when expressing Research), equipment, staff (when expressing a group of people)
faculty
- Some words can avoid redundancy:
- Some words require that the nouns they modify are plural. These words include different, variable and numbers:
4. English sentences should not start with abbreviations and Arabic numerals, such as Fig. and 8. And write figure and eight.
5. Instead of by this way, write by doing this or using this method
6. Never write 'how to' at the beginning of a sentence. Don't express it in spoken English, for example:
7. The variables appearing in the text are indicated in italics to distinguish them from words. This is especially important when the variable is an English letter.
8. Avoid using the word observably in technical papers in the following ways
9. International journal papers cannot use place dependent words, such as' at home ',' abroad ',' here ',' our country ', because it is likely that they are not Chinese or in China, so they should write' in China '.
10. Avoid overusing the phrases' that is to say 'and' named '. Instead, try to express your meaning in one sentence.
11. Don't use "too" at the end of written sentences, especially in technical papers.
Finally, the English and French scenes of a, an and the are attached:
