《中式英语之鉴》Part One读书笔记

Cristina

Here are some wonderful paragraphs from Part One: Unnecessary Words:

From "Unnecessary Nouns and Verbs"

• "All authorities on the style of English prose agree that good writing is concise." This sentence emphasizes the importance of conciseness in English writing.

• "To accelerate the pace of economic reform" should be "To accelerate economic reform". "Pace" is redundant as "accelerate" already implies the concept of speed.

• "These hardships are temporary in nature" can be simplified to "These hardships are temporary". Stating "in nature" is as redundant as saying "The national flag of China is red in color".

From "Unnecessary Modifiers"

• "Economically developed countries" can be better expressed as "Developed countries". The adjective "economically" is often unnecessary.

• "Now he is working hard" can be simply "He is working hard". The adverb "now" is usually redundant as the present continuous tense already indicates the current action.

• "Make a proper readjustment" should be "Readjust". "Proper" is an unnecessary modifier as "readjust" itself conveys the intended meaning.

These paragraphs are excellent as they clearly illustrate the common problems of using unnecessary words in Chinglish and offer effective solutions, helping readers improve their English writing and translation skills.