普遍中国学生在用英语写作的时候，大约是由于受了大学英语四六级的影响，写作中都会出现以下问题：


1     I, we and you


中国学生写作最大的问题，就是一篇短短200－400字的论文中，各种人物粉末登场，I，we，you轮番上阵，走马观花象跑龙套的，搞的老外头昏脑涨。在formal writing中，为了使argument有说服力，最好不要出现太多的人物——因为你不是在写小说。下面就I，we，you的问题分别讨论一下。


We

Avoid ‘we’, because it is often unclear who ‘we’ refers to. You and your marker? You and a co-author? The whole world???

It is also very bad style to refer to yourself as ‘we’—writers sometimes do it when they have problems with their essay and they want to ‘distance; themselves from it, saying in effect, ‘Do not blame me for this result’.

Avoid ‘we must teach like this’ or ‘we should concluded that…’. If you do this, you are making two mistakes. First, you are telling your marker what to think and do (not a good idea) and second, you are limiting your own position. You are saying ‘things are defined and clear cut’, whereas they are often NOT!


You

Avoid ‘you’. It is too personal and conversational. That the ‘expert talking to learner’ style used in textbooks and handbooks is NOT appropriate in formal writing, since you are still a learner.


I

You can use ‘I’ at several points, but making certain the sentence refers to something you are, as a student and as the author of the assignment, responsible for. Thus you could put ‘I shall divide the argument into two main sections’ (you could also write ‘the argument is divided into two main sections’). On the other hand, you do not want to write, ‘I have argued elsewhere that adults learn grammar faster than children’, as this makes you sound like a world expert with 30 books published!

Try and avoid ‘I think X is a good idea’. We want you to argue the case WHY X is or is not appropriate, rather than simply assert(=state) that you think it is. This is one of the big differences between conversation and university assignments. In an assignment, you have to make sure you give the evidence for opinions and you need to use impersonal verbs like ‘seem’.

Thus you would write, ‘Smith would seem to be wrong in arguing that…’ or ‘This seems incorrect’, rather than ‘I think Smith is wrong’.


2     Aviod "can","should"

大概是媒体语言看多了，中国人说话自然而然带了一种官腔。西方人同我们不同，他们希望看到的是你有什么具体的方法解决具体的问题，而不是每天拿着小旗帜挥，喊slogan——我们应该怎么样，我们必须怎么样——but HOW？

You can use 'can' to describe yourself as in this sentence: 'It is hoped that the essay CAN...'. However, you had better not use 'can' as in 'The teachers can do something...', which sounds like an order. The same or we say even worse with 'should'.

If you say 'the government should...', it would be a very bad style. You are learners but not policy makers--the only thing you can do is to argume or make suggestion but not ORDER/DEMAND/FORCE. What you can do is to argue convincingly and try your best to persuade others but not force them to believe. Don't make yourself so important--as you are, in fact, not important! You can try 'may''had better''might' more.


3     Avoid emotional and poetic words

避免诗情画意的用词。在formal writing中，人就是人，没必要说a famous writer，也没必要出现一些过于情绪化的词语。

Avoiding emotive words can be difficult in a foreign language, but it is very important to try. Avoid words like ‘My dream is to answer this question’ or ‘I am starting this fascinating essay with a wonderful, and deeply enriching, tantalizing comment by the highly celebrated and world famous expert R. Smith’. You may personally think that Smith is wonderful and justly famous, but in an academic assignment, PEOPLE ARE JUST PEOPLE! Your argument depends on the content of your points, not on the fame or excitement of the topic, the author or your opinion.


4     Avoid ‘some’

formal writing中，要使你的论据占的住脚，就避免模糊用语，例如some。

The British use ‘some’ in conversation all the time. BUT it does not have the same effect in writing. There, it appears weak; this makes you look as though you are not in control of your own argument. Try and use more positive expressions, like ‘a number of Ws’, ‘a series of Xs’, ‘several Ys’, ‘a range of Zs’.


5     Aviod 'as we all know' 'it can not be denied' 'there is no denying that...' 'everyone knows'... 'only by doing this, can we...'

无论是什么考试的阅读理解，大家应该都有一个印象，就是如果出现“all” “only”这类极端词汇的选项，99.999999%肯定是错的。

Then why most of you keep using this kind of phrases in your essay? Remember, most likely, there is no single standard answer in social science--since people have different understandings towards different phenomena. Also, remember, the one you can represent is YOU yourself, but no one else. So you CAN'T say 'as we all know'! As I often DON'T know!


6     Aviod 'as far as I am concerned' 'I think' 'in my opinion'

有人也许会奇怪，怎么这些也不能用？

The marker knows clearly that YOU have written this essay--so they know clearly that it is YOUR opinion! So why keep repeating these 废话？记住，写作千万不要凑字数。


7     Aviod 'in short' 'in conclusion' 'in summary'


为什么这些也不要用太多？ Because they are cliche. They make your maker totally tired! Close your argument as it naturally should be.不要拿着小旗子挥舞着说，老子现在要结尾了！This is not necessary.


final point：写作最重要的是idea而不是句子本身。If you don't have any convincing ideas,你的句子再漂亮，it is nothing!很多人写不出来是因为你们英语写作的水平，写出来的内容，跟小学4年级差不多。Remember, you are most likely applying POSTGRADUATE COURSE,不要把自己的思想表现的像个弱智的孩子。

If 'we' and 'you' are all avioded, there might be only 'I's refer to the writer, and this case should be avoided, too.
So don not use any pronoun which refers to the writter, use the writer's name instead, or just talk about 'him's or 'her's.

好东西啊,很实用啊