口語(yǔ)寫作

How to Avoid Colloquial (Informal) Writing
如何避免口語(yǔ)寫作？

While it may be acceptable in e-mail or in chat rooms, excessive colloquialism can diminish the quality of a formal written text. Presentation may be improved by applying the following techniques:
雖然在郵件中或聊天室里使用口語(yǔ)表達(dá)可以接受，但是過度的口語(yǔ)用法會(huì)降低一篇正式的書面文本的質(zhì)量。以下這些技巧可以幫助提高書面表達(dá)功底：

1.差異

1. Understand the difference between formal and informal English.
了解正式英語(yǔ)與非正式英語(yǔ)之間的差別。

Formal and informal English differ in word choice, word usage, and grammatical structures. Informal writing may sound more like conversation while formal writing may be more polished. An informal style may make listeners feel more comfortable when you are speaking, but a formal writing style can make a good impression.
正式英語(yǔ)與非正式英語(yǔ)主要在單詞的選擇、用法還是語(yǔ)法結(jié)構(gòu)等方面存在差別。非正式的寫作可能聽起來(lái)更像是對(duì)話，而正式的寫作需要更多的修飾。非正式的寫作風(fēng)格可能在講話時(shí)讓聽眾覺得更舒服，但是正式的寫作風(fēng)格則會(huì)給人留下一個(gè)好印象。

Informal writing might utilize the words "contraption," "fire," "kid," "how come," and "quote" as a noun. A formal writer might prefer "device," "dismiss," "child," "why," and "quotation."
非正式寫作常用到這些詞匯：contraption, fire, kid, how come, quote（動(dòng)詞用作名詞）；正式寫作則會(huì)使用：device, dismiss, child, why, quotation。

2.標(biāo)點(diǎn)符號(hào)

2．Use appropriate punctuation.
正確使用標(biāo)點(diǎn)符號(hào)。

For example, American English employs a colon in a formal letter as in “Dear John:” but British English employs a comma.
例如，美式英語(yǔ)的正式書信會(huì)在稱呼后面加冒號(hào)（Dear John:），而英式英語(yǔ)則使用的是逗號(hào)（Dear John,）。

Limit parentheses, exclamation points, and dashes (prefer colons) in formal writing.
正式寫作中要少用圓括號(hào)、感嘆號(hào)和破折號(hào)（多用冒號(hào)）。

Avoid the ampersand (&); write out the word “and.” Punctuate your writing as you go along to reduce your risk of leaving out punctuation.
避免使用符號(hào)&，把單詞and 拼寫出來(lái)。寫作時(shí)邊寫邊加標(biāo)點(diǎn)，這樣可以避免遺漏。

3.口語(yǔ)表達(dá)

3．Avoid common colloquial words and expressions (colloquialisms), such as "cute" (use "adorable"), "yeah," "how-do-you-do," and "movie" (use "film"), as listed below or labeled as such in your dictionary.
避免使用常見的口語(yǔ)單詞和表達(dá)（口語(yǔ)用詞）。如cute（改用adorable）、yeah、how-do-you-do 和movie（改用film），這些在辭典中都會(huì)標(biāo)出來(lái)。

This includes slang such as "cool," "dude," and "humongous." Two good phrases to delete are "you know" and “you might be thinking.” You do not have the power to know your readers’ thoughts while they read your paper.
口語(yǔ)表達(dá)還包括俚語(yǔ)cool、dude 和humongous；另外還有兩個(gè)一定不要出現(xiàn)在正式寫作中的短語(yǔ)you know 和you might be thinking。你不用了解讀者在閱讀你的文章時(shí)內(nèi)心的想法。

Another empty sentence is “Think about it.” Assume that your readers are already thinking about what they are reading, and state your point more clearly. The adverb “pretty,” meaning “relatively," "fairly," or "quite,” is unacceptable in all formal writing and is often unnecessary.
另外一個(gè)意義空泛的句子是Think about it，因?yàn)樽x者在讀文章時(shí)已經(jīng)在思考，所以你只需要把你的觀點(diǎn)表達(dá)得更加清晰就可以。副詞pretty（與relatively意義相同）、fairly 或 quite 也不應(yīng)該出現(xiàn)在正式寫作中，因?yàn)樗鼈兺ǔＪ嵌嘤嗟谋磉_(dá)。

4.縮寫

4．Do not use contractions.
不要使用縮寫形式。

Note that the full form of "can't" is one word: "cannot," not "can not."
記住can’t 的完整形式是一個(gè)單詞 cannot（而不是can not）。

5.人稱

5．Try to avoid the first and second person.
少用第一人稱和第二人稱代詞。

Formal writing often tries to be objective, and the pronouns "I" and "you" tend to imply subjectivity. Phrases such as "I think that" can be deleted from a sentence when it is obvious that this is the author’s opinion. Using the pronoun "I" is almost always acceptable in personal writing, and the pronoun "you" is almost always acceptable in letters and how-to’s. In the most formal writing, the pronoun “I” is replaced by the pronoun “we”; this is known as the royal we or the editorial we. Formal writing generally avoids the pronoun “you” when it refers to people in general.
正式寫作力求客觀，而人稱代詞 I 和 you 則表達(dá)的是主觀概念。I think that 這樣的短語(yǔ)應(yīng)該從句子中刪除掉，因?yàn)檫@明顯代表的是作者的主觀意見。第一人稱 I 可以出現(xiàn)在私人寫作中，而第二人稱 you 通常在書信和指南類寫作中可以使用。在大部分的正式寫作中，用 we 代替 I，皇室聲明或者社論文章中都使用的we。正式寫作一般在指一般人時(shí)，很少用到y(tǒng)ou：

非正式表達(dá)：You should sleep eight hours each night.

正式表達(dá)： One should sleep eight hours each night.

偶爾使用的正式表達(dá)：Most people should sleep at least eight hours each night.

6.不定式

6．Do not hesitate to split an infinitive when it is warranted.
需要時(shí)及時(shí)分離不定式（指副詞插在to和原形動(dòng)詞之間的結(jié)構(gòu)）。

Split infinitives are common in legal writing, an important type of formal English. In fact, the split infinitive is encountered in the most formal of writing. Split infinitives can be used even in very formal writing that avoids the active voice. Infinitives, along with gerunds, contribute to an active writing style and show action but are not actually in the active voice. Voice is a property of clauses, and infinitives and gerunds form phrases. Split infinitives are grammatically correct.
分離不定式在法律寫作中很常見，法律寫作是正式英語(yǔ)寫作的一個(gè)重要類型。實(shí)際上，大部分的正式寫作都會(huì)遇到需要分離不定式的情況。在需要避免主動(dòng)語(yǔ)態(tài)的非常正式的寫作中都可以使用分離不定式。不定式和動(dòng)名詞起著表達(dá)主動(dòng)寫作風(fēng)格的作用，可以不用使用主動(dòng)語(yǔ)態(tài)就表達(dá)出行動(dòng)的概念。語(yǔ)態(tài)是從句的屬性，不定式和動(dòng)名詞構(gòu)成短語(yǔ)。分離不定式?jīng)]有語(yǔ)法問題。

7.助動(dòng)詞

7. Do not be afraid to separate the auxiliary (helping) verb and the main verb.
分離助動(dòng)詞和主要?jiǎng)釉~。如One might confidently think that...

8.介詞

8. Know when to end a sentence with a preposition (even in the most formal of English).
搞清楚什么時(shí)候在句尾使用介詞。（就算在最正式的英語(yǔ)寫作中也可以）。

9.關(guān)系代詞

9. Always include the relative pronoun.
從句中要有關(guān)系代詞。

In formal English, you should be sure to always include "whom" or "which" even when they are not essential to your meaning. The relative pronoun can be omitted when only a participle is used; in that case, there is no longer a relative clause. Also, avoid using 'that' as a relative pronoun and replace it with 'which', 'whom' or 'who'.
在正式的英語(yǔ)表達(dá)中，就算在意思上不需要，也還是要記得加上 whom 和 which。只有在出現(xiàn)分詞時(shí)關(guān)系代詞才可以省略，在這種情況下已經(jīng)不存在關(guān)系從句。另外少用 that 多用 which/whom/who 等關(guān)系代詞。

非正式表達(dá)：This is the paper I wrote.

正式表達(dá)： This is the paper which I wrote.

最正式表達(dá)：That was the paper written by me.

This version uses the past participle and does not contain a relative clause. It is the most formal version because it does not contain any verbs in the active voice.
這個(gè)表達(dá)中用到了過去分詞，因?yàn)闆]有包含任何使用主動(dòng)語(yǔ)態(tài)的動(dòng)詞，所以是最正式的表達(dá)方式。

正式表達(dá)：The bear which was dancing was graceful.

更正式表達(dá)：The bear dancing was graceful.

“Dancing” is not active; it is not even a verb and is actually an adjective; this becomes clearer when the sentence is rewritten as “The dancing bear was graceful.”
Dancing不是主動(dòng)語(yǔ)態(tài)，也不是個(gè)動(dòng)詞，其實(shí)是形容詞。如果我們把這個(gè)句子重新改寫成 The dancing bear was graceful 就能看得更清楚一些。

10.并列連詞

10. Do not start a sentence with a coordinating conjunction.
不要在句首使用并列連詞。

In the written language, do not use coordinating conjunctions such as "and,” "but," “so,” or “or” to start a sentence. Coordinating conjunctions are meant to join words, phrases, and clauses; a coordinating conjunction is left dangling without a role to play when it comes at the beginning of a sentence.
在書面語(yǔ)言中，不要使用并列連詞and，but，so，or 等開始一個(gè)句子。并列連詞是用來(lái)連接詞語(yǔ)和從句的，當(dāng)并列連詞用在句首時(shí)，就無(wú)法實(shí)現(xiàn)它的角色。

Consider attaching the sentence that starts with a coordinating conjunction to the previous sentence, substituting the period for a comma to produce a compound sentence. You can also use transitional adverbs such as “additionally” (or “moreover”), “nevertheless” (or “however”), “therefore” (or “thus”), and “alternatively” (or “instead” or “otherwise”).
可以考慮使用并列連詞將句子與前一句聯(lián)系在一起，把句號(hào)換成逗號(hào)，兩句就能成為一個(gè)并列復(fù)合句。也可以使用過渡副詞：additionally/moreover，nevertheless/however，therefore/thus，alternatively/instead/otherwise 等。

11.復(fù)合句

11. Develop short, choppy sentences into longer, more graceful sentences.
把語(yǔ)調(diào)起伏的短句發(fā)展成更加優(yōu)美的長(zhǎng)句。

Formal writing generally uses longer sentences: compound, complex, and compound-complex sentences. You can develop two or more simple sentences into one of the previously listed sentence structures. Long sentences add variety to your writing and can be particularly effective when paired with short sentences; the contrast grabs the readers' attention. As the last sentence shows, you also can use a semicolon to join two simple sentences, provided that they are closely related to each other.
正式寫作一般多用長(zhǎng)句：并列句、復(fù)合句、并列復(fù)合句。你可以把兩三個(gè)簡(jiǎn)單句發(fā)展成前面提到的這幾種句型。長(zhǎng)句會(huì)為你的寫作增添多樣性，與短句搭配出現(xiàn)時(shí)特別有效；這種長(zhǎng)短句的對(duì)比會(huì)吸引讀者的注意。就像我們上句話的表達(dá)方式所示，你可以使用分號(hào)將兩個(gè)簡(jiǎn)單句連在一起，不過當(dāng)然是要在它們意思緊密聯(lián)系的情況下。

12.俗語(yǔ)

12. Avoid clichés to be formal.
避免在正式表達(dá)中使用俗語(yǔ)。

Formal writing tries to use literal language that will not be misunderstood by any of the readers. Clichés can make your writing unoriginal, but they can sometimes be fun in casual writing, especially as an original play-on-words. Here are some clichés to avoid in formal writing:
正式寫作要盡量使用能夠被任何讀者理解的文字語(yǔ)言，俗語(yǔ)會(huì)讓你的寫作失去原創(chuàng)性，雖然在非正式的寫作中使用俗語(yǔ)可能會(huì)很有趣，特別是用在文字游戲中。下面是一些在正式寫作中應(yīng)當(dāng)避免的俗語(yǔ)：

Hercules was as strong as an ox. （as strong as an ox：力大如牛）

I have to give an arm and a leg to find a parking spot during the holiday season. （give an arm and a leg：價(jià)格昂貴）

It was as pretty as a picture.（as pretty as a picture：秀麗如畫）

13.思維導(dǎo)向

13. Avoid stage directions.
避免用你的思維引導(dǎo)讀者

Do not commence a letter by telling the recipient what you plan to do in the letter or begin an essay by telling the reader what the paper will discuss.
不要在書信的開頭告訴收信人你信里要說(shuō)些什么，或是在論文開頭告訴讀者你的文章要討論些什么內(nèi)容。

"I am writing to you to ask you to. . . ."

"This paper is going to talk about how. . . ."

14.模糊詞匯

14. Avoid vague words.
避免使用模糊詞匯。

Vague words are less formal and are open to interpretation; they do not express your ideas as well as more precise words would. "A few" or "enough" can often be replaced by something more precise.
模糊詞匯不夠正式，容易造成仁者見仁智者見智的情況。選用一些更為具體的詞匯，可能更能準(zhǔn)確地表達(dá)我們的意思。在正式寫作中，a few 和 enough 通常都會(huì)被更為準(zhǔn)確的詞匯替代。