1. a, one and the
反例. * The ambiguity is one characteristic of English language
正例. Ambiguity is a characteristic of the English language.
(1) General (no article) vs. specific (article must be used)
A good general rule here is that if you have the sequence -Noun A + of + Noun B - then Noun A is preceded by the.
(2) A / An (indefinite article) vs. one (number)
We might say one characteristic if we were then going to enumerate other characteristics.but in this sentence the main topic is ambiguity and not the number of
characteristics.
其他例子
S1. A researcher spends many days in the lab. （不特指，指所有研究者）
S2. Researchers spend many days in the lab.（不特指，指所有研究者）
S3. The researcher spends many days in the lab.（特指， 且前文提到过researcher ）
**So always remember that if you use the with a countable noun it implies that you have already mentioned this noun before.
2. 代词
代词在英语中常常出现指代不明的情况
S1. *I put the book in the car and then I left it there all day （it指的是car or book）
如果你发现用代词有歧义或者是作者可能忘记前面的句子，最好的方法是重复前面的名词
S2. * We could go to Australia, Canada or the Netherlands, but they are a long way from here.
S3. ……Australia, Canada or the Netherlands, all of which are a long way from here.
S4. …… Australia, Canada or the Netherlands. But Canada and the Netherlands are a long way from here.
3. Referring backwards: the former, the latter
慎用the former, the latter 避免歧义，如果the former, the latter 指的东西里的太远也最好不要用。解决办法是直接重复名词
4. 用respectively来消除歧义
歧义句. *… where X is the function for Y, and f1 and f2 are the constant functions for P and Q.
改成：S3. … and f1 and f2 are the constant functions for both P and Q or ------S4. … and f1 and f2 are the constant functions for P and Q, respectively
5. and
在and 前加逗号可以消除歧义。
歧义句. * I will be free the whole of Monday and Tuesday and Thursday morning unless one of the professors decides to arrange an extra class.
S1. I will be free the whole of Monday, and (also) Tuesday and Thursday morning.
S2. I will be free the whole of Monday and Tuesday, and (also) Thursday morning.
6. both … and, either … or
S1. We studied both English and Spanish.（都能学）
S2. You can study either English or Spanish.（只能学一种）
S3. You cannot study both Russian and Korean.（只能学一种）
S4. You cannot study either Russian or Korean.（都不能学）
both的位置会影响句子含义
S5. This is true both for the students and the professors.
S6. This is true for both the students and the professors. （两个学生和教授）
7. 拉丁词- i.e.和e.g.
在不长的句子和文字中，可以避免使用拉丁词汇
Another way to say i.e. is that is to say . Other ways to say e.g. are: for example, such as, and for instance .
8. 不要怕使用相同的单词
S1. Companies have to pay many taxes. In fact, occasionally enterprises fail because of over-taxation. Some firms resolve this problem by moving their headquarters to countries where the tax rate is lower. (没有必要换那么多词)
A very important rule in scientific English is: never find synonyms for key words -avoid synonymomania
作者想出的其他不重复单词的办法：用通用词代替关键词
S3. *Our findings demonstrate that treatment with chitosan resulted in the significant protection of Arabidopsis leaves against the necrotrophic fungus Botrytis cinerea. This is closely related to the fact that this compound is perceived by the plant as a powerful elicitor
作者想出的其他不重复单词的办法：用通用词代替关键词
S4. * This can be done by using either a chromatographic pump or a peristaltic one.
S5. * With regard to the TTC output the arbitrariness of a gpk parameter can be exploited by starting from that of gpa
**上面两句对母语人士来说会很奇怪，修正后:
S7. This can be done by using either a chromatographic or peristaltic pump.
S8. With regard to the TTC output the arbitrariness of a gpk parameter can be exploited by starting from the arbitrariness of gpa
然而，对于一些形容词和动词，使用同义词是有用的，特别是当你需要在整个论文中经常使用这些动词和形容词时。
Examples:
We would like to stress / underline / emphasize / highlight that x = y.
We performed / carried out / did several experiments.
This is a critical / very important / fundamental issue.
9. 用尽量精确的表达
.Instead of saying something happened in a number of cases, be more exact: this happened in 11 cases . If you think that stating the exact number is not important or you do not have the exact number available, then try to use a concise expression.
about ....of the order of, few..... few in number, many ...a high percentage of, many ......a large proportion of, most .....vast majority of, never..... never at any time, several .....a good number of, some / - .....a number of.
Below are a few examples of words and expressions that could be interpreted in many different ways. In all cases you need to be more specific:
in the short term, in the near future,a relatively short / long duration, [quite a] high / low number of, recently, recent – --bear in mind that the reader may be reading your paper several years after its publication
Referees often criticize authors for sentences such as:
S1. Usually the samples were cooled to room temperature.
S2. It was necessary to study the problem with attention .
S3. In the late 1990s nearly all newspapers created a companion website.
S4. Subjects performed fairly well and their results were substantially better than their counterparts.
Adverbs such as fairly and substantially mean different things to different people are. Other examples of potentially ambiguous adjectives and adverbs are: adequate,appreciable, appropriate, comparatively, considerable, practically, quite, rather, real, relatively, several, somewhat, suitable, tentative , and very .这些副词通常是冗余的或者是需要更加精确的表达。
S5. * Sampling took place in a relatively short but significant period of time.
S6. * We used a suitable method for the computation.
How long is relatively short ? What does significant mean? What exactly is suitable?
10. Choose the least generic word
Another way to be more precise is to choose the least abstract / generic word. In S1 and S2 a generic word is followed by specific definition - this type of construction is often an unnecessary repetition.
S1. *This kind of investigation, i.e. the analysis of the AS profiles , also aims to find sets of nodes which behave similarly and …
S2. *Climatic conditions (i.e. temperature, rainfall) were also checked. Decide whether you can delete the preceding phrase and just use the definition.
S3 and S4 are more concise, more precise, and save the reader from reading redundant abstractions.
S3. By analyzing AS profiles we can also find sets of nodes that behave similarly and …
S4. Temperature and rainfall were also checked.
如果可以的话，总是选择抽象阶梯中最低的一个词。
***当然，有些情况下你可能想要故意含糊。但如果可以的话，尽可能使用最具体的词，这样读者就能更好地理解你。
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