英语技术写作 2.docx
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英语技术写作 2.docx
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英语技术写作2
GuidelinestoSuccessfulTechnicalWriting
1、Revisingwithefficientsentences
Themainpurposeofatechnicaldocumentistoinformorpersuadethereaderthroughuseofefficientsentences,nottoimpressorentertainwithfancylanguagedisplays、So,technicaldocumentstransmitworthwhileinformation—evenhighlyspecializedinformation—inthemoststraightforwardwaytotheiraudience、
Readersoftechnicaldocumentsarebusyandimpatient、Theydonotwishtoputmoreintoreadingadocumentthantheycangetfromit、Theyhatewasteandexpectefficiency、Everysentenceinadocumentshouldberevisedtocarryitsownweight,inconveyingthewriter’smeaning、
Observethesameruleinadoptingsentencestyleasyouwouldinchoosingthedocument’scontent:
makeitlongenoughtobeunderstood,yetshortenoughtobetolerated、Whenwritingatechnicaldocument,consulttheguidelinesbelow,whichcanalsoserveasachecklistforyoursentencestyle:
❑Revisesentencestobeclearandavoidambiguity、
Aclearsentencecommunicatesitsprecisemeaningonfirstreading、Itsignalsrelationshipsamongitsparts,andemphasizesthekeythought、Intechnicalwriting,asentenceshouldhaveonlyonemeaning、Makesurethewords,phrases,andpunctuationareabsolutelyclear、
AmbiguousIcannotrecommendthiscandidatetoohighly、
RevisedThiscandidatehasmyhighestrecommendation、
AmbiguousManyexecutivesareskepticalaboutofficeautomationaswellasmanagers、
RevisedManyexecutivesaswellasmanagersareskepticalaboutofficeautomation、
AmbiguousBeingwell-knowninthecomputerindustry,ourprojectwouldbenefitalotfromtheTsinghuateam、
RevisedBecausetheTsinghuateamiswell-knowninthecomputerindustry,ourprojectwouldbenefitalotfromitshelp、
❑Useactiveratherthanpassivevoicemostofthetime、
Usually,theactivevoice(Joetestedthesoftware、)isbetterthanthepassivevoice(ThesoftwareistestedbyJoe、),butincertainsituationsitcanmakesensetousethelessnaturalpassivestyle、However,manywritersroutinelyusethepassivestylesimplybecausetheybelieveitismore“formal”and“acceptable”、Itisnot、Usingthepassivestyleisthemostcommonreasonforpoorlystructuredsentencesanditalwaysleadstolongersentencesthanarenecessary、Unlessyouhaveaverygoodreasonforthechangeinemphasis,youshouldalwayswriteintheactivestyle、
Thefollowingexamplesshowtheimprovementachievedbyswitchingfrompassivetoactive:
FaultyThereportwaswrittenbyPeter,andwasfoundtobeexcellent、
CorrectPeterwrotethereport,anditwasexcellent、
FaultyThelidshouldbesealedwithwax、
CorrectSealthelidwithwax、
BadThevaluesweremeasuredautomaticallybythecontrolsystem、
GoodThecontrolsystemmeasuredthevaluesautomatically、
Weak&ImpersonalAnofferwillbemadebyusnextweek、
StrongerWewillmakeyouanoffernextweek、
❑Avoidunnecessarywordsandrepetition、
Manysentencescontainunnecessarywordsthatrepeatanideaalreadyexpressedinanotherword、Thiswastesspaceandbluntsthemessage、Oftenwritersuseseveralwordsforideasthatcanbeexpressedinone、Thisleadstounnecessarilycomplexsentencesandredundancy、
RedundantTheprinterislocatedadjacenttothecomputer、
RevisedTheprinterisadjacenttothecomputer、
RedundantTheusercanvisiblyseetheimagemoving、
RevisedTheusercanseetheimagemoving、
RedundantTheproductisnotofasatisfactorynature、
RevisedTheproductisunsatisfactory、
❑Makesentencesfluent、
Fluentsentencesarepolished,graceful,andeasytoread、Variedlengthandwordordermakethemfreeofchoppinessandmonotony、Seethefollowingsuggestions:
Needless“that”Thisisaproblemthatbothersme、
FluentThisproblembothersme、
NeedlessqualifierItseemsthattheyhaveavalidargument、
RevisedTheyhaveavalidargument、/Theyseemtohaveavalidargument、
ChoppyJoggingcanbehealthfulifyouhavetherightequipment、Mostimportantarewell-fittingshoes、Theyareimportantbecausewithoutthemyoutakethechanceofinjuringyourlegs、Yourkneesareespeciallypronetoinjury、
RevisedJoggingcanbehealthfulifyouhavetherightequipment、Well-fittingshoesaremostimportantbecausetheypreventinjuriestoyourlegs,especiallyyourknees、
Technicalwritingexercises
1.Thefollowingsentencesareunclearorlackfluencybecauseofambiguousphrasing,incorrectwordorder,ortoomuchinformation、Revisethemsothattheirmeaningsareclear、
a)AmaneatingsharkwasspottedintheSouthSea、
b)Wearingspecialequipment,theradioactivematerialfailedtoinjuretheoperator、
c)Thatisawholenewapproachthatneedsattentionandresearch、
2.Thefollowingsentencesneedtoberewrittenintheactiveorpassivevoiceforbetteremphasis,moredirectnessorgreatereconomy、Makenecessarychangesandgivereasonsforeach、
a)Itisbelievedbyusthatthecontractisfaulty、
b)Specialhelmetsshouldbewornatalltimesduringthisproject、
c)Itwasreportedbythemanagerthattheprojectwasintrouble、
d)Careshouldbetakenintheoperationofthemachine、
GuidelinestoSuccessfulTechnicalWriting
2、Choosingtherightwordsandexpressions
Yourchoiceofwordsultimatelydeterminesthequalityofyourwriting、Keepyourexpressionsimple,jargon-free,original,convincing,precise,concreteandspecific、
❑Replacedifficultwordsandphraseswithsimpleralternatives、
Flowerydictionandneedlessjargonobscureyourmessageandforceyourreaderstoworktoohardforunderstanding、WorditinplainEnglish,andavoidinflateddiction、Donotusethreesyllableswhenonewilldo、Hereisalistofanumberofwordsandexpressionsthatshouldgenerallybeavoidedinfavorofthesimplealternative、
approximately
=
about
ascertain
=
find
assist,assistance
=
help
commence
=
start
demonstrate
=
show
dwelling
=
house
effectuate
=
do
(to)endeavor
=
(to)try
endeavor
=
effort
enquire
=
ask
facilitate
=
help
inconsequence
=
so
inexcessof
=
more
inrespectof
=
about
intheeventof
=
if
initiate
-
begin
multiplicityof
=
many
necessitate
-
need
phenomenon
=
event
terminate
=
end,stop
transmit
=
send
utilize
=
use
Owingtothesituationthat、、、=Because,since…
Shouldasituationarisewhere、、、=If…
Takingintoconsiderationsuchfactorsas、、、=Considering…
Also,unlessyouarediscussingbuildingmaintenanceorcomputergraphics,neverusetheverb“render”、
FaultyThetestingstrategyrendereditimpossibletofindallthefaults、
CorrectThetestingstrategymadeitimpossibletofindallthefaults、
Inotherwords,ifyoumean“make”thenwrite“make”not“render”、
Countthesyllablesandtrimwhenyoucan、Thefollowingisanexampleofbaddictioninflation:
InflatedRe-evaluatethedesignoftheentireuserinterfacetominimizedesignfactorswhichareresultinginsensitiveand/orcriticalmaintenanceandinspectionprocedures、
RevisedRedesigntheUIsotheyareeasiertomaintainandinspect、
❑Useverbsinsteadofnounsifpossible、
Lookatthefollowingsentence:
HalftheteamwasinvolvedinthedevelopmentofsystemY、
Thissentencecontainsaclassicexampleofacommoncauseofpoorwritingstyle、Thesentenceisusingtheabstractnoun“development”inplaceoftheverb“develop”、Thesimplerandmorenaturalversionofthesentenceis:
HalftheteamwasinvolvedindevelopingsystemY、
Turningverbsintoabstractnounsalwaysproducessentenceslongerthannecessary,soavoiddoingit、Thefollowingexamplesshowtheimprovementyoucanachievebyreplacingnounswithverbs:
FaultyHeusedtohelpinthespecificationofnewsoftware、
RevisedHeusedtohelpspecifynewsoftware、
FaultyClickingtheiconcausestheexecutionoftheprogram、
RevisedTheprogramexecuteswhentheiconisclicked、
FaultyTheanalysisofthesoftwarewasperformedbyFred、
RevisedFredanalyzedthesoftware、
FaultyItwasreportedbyJonesthatmethodZfacilitatedtheutilizationofinspectiontechniquesbythetestingteam、
RevisedJonesreportedthatmethodZhelpedthetestingteamuseinspectiontechniques、
❑Usejargononlyifithelpsyoucommunicatebetter、
ExpressionslikeMS/DOS,UI,ODBCandglitchareexamplesofjargon、Ingeneral,jargonreferstoaspecialvocabularyofaparticulargrouporactivity、Itisoftenshorthandorabbreviations,withspecializedusage、Ifyouareconfidentthateveryreaderofyourreportunderstandsthespecialty,thenitmaybeused、Forexample,ifyouronlypotentialreadersarecomputerspecialists,itisappropriatetosaythatacomputerisdownwithouthavingtoexplainwhat“down”means、Inallothercases(whicharealmostalways)jargonshouldbeavoided、Ifyoucannotavoidusingsuchexpressions,thendefinethetermthefirsttimeyouuseitorreferthereadertoaglossarywhereitisdefined、
NeedlessjargonIntercomutilizationwillbeusedtoinitiateovertimeprogrammer
operativeinvolvement、
RevisedProgrammerswhohavetoworkovertimewillbenotifiedonthe
intercom、
❑Beconsistentinnamingthesamesubjectorobject、
Therule“Neverusethesamewordtwice、”doesnotapplytoallformsofwriting、Somepeoplemayfeeltheymustusedifferentwordstodescribethesamething、Intechnicalwritingtheoppositeruleapplies:
“Youshouldalwaysusethesamewordtorefertothesamething、”Failingtodosomayconfuseandannoyreaders、
Consider,forexample,thefollowingparagraphthatwaswritteninagroupprojectfinalreport:
Inthefirstthreeweeksoftheprojectwewroteaprojectplanforthesystem、
Wewereambitiousinourrequirementsbecausewewantedthegroupprojecttobeasuccessa
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