The Noun Plague & Pronouns and Antecedents

Tony带水

Reader: 英语2302班阳佳玲
Reading Time: 3.31-4.6
Reading Task: The Noun Plagues & Pronouns and Antecedents
Translation Task: Twenty exercises

Summary of the Content:
  The noun plague refers to the excessive use of nouns, especially abstract nouns, in Chinglish. In English expressions, verb-based sentences are often simple, powerful and clear, while Chinglish is often based on nouns, especially vague, general and abstract nouns, which makes the sentences complicated, dull and difficult to understand. For example, the original sentence “the prolongation of the existence of this temple is due to the solidity of its construction” contains four abstract nouns, which is long and contrived. It's hard to understand. The modified sentence “this temple has endured because it was solidly built” has no abstract noun, the expression is simple and clear.
  Pronouns and antecedents mainly explains the correct use of pronouns in English. Pronouns are words used to replace nouns, including personal pronouns, relative pronouns, demonstrative pronouns and so on. In English, pronouns are used more frequently than in Chinese, and some English pronouns do not even have corresponding words in Chinese. Each pronoun needs a clear and logical antecedent, which must meet four conditions: first of all, it must be clearly expressed, not just implied; Secondly, the expression should not be vague, so that people will not have ambiguity about what it refers to; The third is to be close to the pronoun, to avoid the distance is too far to cause the connection between the two is difficult to detect; The fourth is to be consistent with the pronoun in grammar, that is, to be consistent in “person”, “number” and “sex”.

Evaluation:
  The theme focuses on two common and critical problems in Chinglish. The improper use of “noun plague” and “pronoun and antecedent” seriously affects the accuracy and fluency of English expression. The choice of these two topics is highly targeted and practical, directly hitting the pain points of Chinese English learners and users, and is crucial to improving the level of English expression.
  The author still uses a large number of examples to present complex grammar and language usage problems intuitively, so that readers can easily understand. This kind of writing method, which combines theory and example closely, avoids the boring explanation of simple theory and is easy for readers to accept and learn. The author emphasizes that English expression should pursue simplicity and clarity, remove unnecessary complex elements and return the language to its direct and effective nature. This kind of thinking is helpful to break the shackles of Chinese thinking on English expression, and guide learners to construct authentic English expression ways from the logic and habits of English itself.

Reflection:
  As far as my personal experience is concerned, I often fall into the trap of “noun plague” in English writing. In order to make the article seem more “level”, I deliberately use abstract nouns, which not only makes the article long, but also makes the meaning obscure. For example, I once wrote “the acceleration of the process of economic development,” which is difficult to understand. After learning about “noun plague”, I realized that it can be simply written as “accelerate economic development”, which is concise and accurate. In addition, I will pay more attention to the consistency and clarity of the pronoun antecedents in writing to avoid misunderstandings. It allows me to understand that in English expression, every pronoun should have a clear direction, so as to ensure that readers can accurately understand the author's intention and make communication smoother.