The Nuts and Bolts of College Writing
这本书适合英语写作刚入门的，以「术」的角度讨论如何英文写作，先指出写作的基本原则，然后给出具体的操作方法。
简洁（concision）
就像北欧风，性冷淡，简洁本身就是一种风格，我们会本能的拒绝简洁，因为简洁意味着我们不再能将自己的思想隐藏于各种浮夸，抽象词语之中，简洁意味着暴露，意味着无处可逃。
pompous style: big words, self-important phrasing, a flat tone, long gobs of prepositional phrase, nouns galore, and abuse of the passive voice.
如何让文章简洁
- 增强动词效果：更少的系动词，被动语态，更多的主动动词，主动语态
- 形容词短语与从句缩减为短的形容词加名词结构
- 删减重复形容词，副词。
- 重复的字，词使用平行结构。
清晰（clarity）
- 多用动词，少用名词结构（choose verbs over nominalizations）
- 选择主动动词，而不是系动词（choose active verbs over linking verbs）
- 选择主动语态而不是被动语态（choose the active voice over the passive voice）
流动（flow）
-
主体一致（use consistent characters）
-
使用代词和其他指示代词（use pronouns and other pointers）
- personal pronouns; I, you, we, he, she, it, me, us, him, her, they, them.
- demonstrative pronouns: this, that, these, those.
- possessive pronouns: mine, yours, his, hers, its, ours, theirs.
- possessive adjectives: my, your, his, her, their, its.
- interrogative pronouns: who, whom, what, which, whose.
- reciprocal pronouns: each other, one another.
- relative pronouns: who, whom, whose, which, that.
-
以熟悉，背景性，不令人惊讶的材料开始，以细节，令人惊讶的材料结束（use punch line）
-
使用连词以及其他的逻辑连接词（use conjunctions and other linking words）
paragraphs
字，词，句都不是文章的最小单位，段落才是。段落的展开可以使用解释，例子，描述，时间叙述，定义，对比，相比，分析的方式。
- examples
- description. 从听觉，视觉，嗅觉，味觉，感觉，心理活动入手，以一定的空间顺序描述，或者从动到静。
- narration
- definition 定义事物方式各种各样，对于学术作者来说，定义要做到定义的标准是可测量的。
On Writing Well
这本书和《the element of style》被誉为英文写作的圣经，William Zinsser更多的以「道」的角度讨论了如何写作，写作原则是什么？方法是什么？怎么处理不同的文体？以怎样的心态写作？
simplicity
津瑟同样强调了简洁的重要性，简洁的文字来自清晰地想法。
words
- 模仿
- 使用字典
- 韵律也很重要
unity（整体感）
- 人称统一，时态统一，文风的统一
- 控制选取的素材，有重点。think small. decide what single point you want to leave in the reader's mind.
all the unities must be fitted into the edifice you finally put together, however backwardly they may be assembled, or it will soon come tumbling down.
the lead and the ending
12种开篇的方式
- 直入主题 state your thesis briefly and directly
- 提出一个和主题相关的问题然后回答该问题 pose a question related to your subject and then answer it.
- 简短描述主题背景 briefly describe the place that serve as the setting of your essay.
- 将主题戏剧化 recount on an incident that dramatizes your subject
- 延迟指出主题 use the narrative strategy of delay
- 在叙述过去事件是用现在时use the historical present tense, relate an incident from the past as if it were happening now.
- 以私人的事开篇 reveal a secret about yourself or make a candid observation about your subject.
- 以玩笑或者幽默引用开篇 open with riddle jokes or humorous quotations, and show how it reveals something about your subject
- 过去和现在的对比 offer a contrast between past and present that leads to your thesis
- 想象和现实的对比 offer a contrast between image and reality
结束文章方式
- 避免使用元话语，比如in sum, it can be noted that...
- 情理之中又意料之中 take your readers slightly by surprise and yet seem exactly right.
- 使文章成为一个闭合的圆 bring the story full circle--to strike at the end an echo of a note that was sounded at the beginning.
The Sense of Style
写道吐血，第三本书实在写不动了，甩个链接写作之弧
网友评论