Chapter 7-8

木榕

Reader:陶迎转
Reading Time:4.10-4.13
Reading Task:chapter 7-8
1.Content:
The two chapter focused on  how to make an English sentence clear and logical, which is important but harder to identify in sentences. Firstly, Due to different Language characteristics, chapter 7 pointed out that plain English is a language based on verbs which are simple, concise, vigorous, and  clear, while Chinglish is a language based on nouns-vague, general,abstract nouns. It is complicated, longwinded, ponderous, and obscure.  Then the chapter explored how to avoid abstract nouns by listing a lot of specific examples and concluded that we should use revisions based on strong verbs in the active voice and on concrete nouns because multified and abstract nouns onpede our understanding. To conbate the plague, we can replace the noun  with a verb, a gerund,  an adjective or adverb or just spell it out.
Chapter 8: Pronouns and Antecedents
The core content: Analyze the expression confusion in Chinglish caused by unclear reference or logical misalignment between pronouns and antecedents.
Typical case:
After the teacher spoke to the student, he left the classroom. (" he "is ambiguous in reference.) Correction: After speaking to the student, the teacher left the classroom.
2. Evaluation and Reflection:Chapter 7 reveals the universality of the plague of nouns through a large number of government documents and example sentences in academic papers, which is both empirical and operational. At the same time, it directly addresses the "staticization" drawbacks of Chinglish (such as solidifying dynamic behaviors into noun phrases), and the Chinese "noun preference" stems from the ideoideality of Chinese characters (such as "reform and opening up" being a noun phrase). English needs to be transformed into verbs (reform and opening up); In academic papers, one needs to be vigilant against ambiguous expressions caused by such issues. For example, simplify "The implementation of the policy" to "Implementing the policy" or "The policy implementation", or even use the verb "implement" directly. Drive logic with verbs to enhance persuasiveness.
Chapter 8 reveals that in Chinese, the subject or pronoun is often omitted, but in English, the referential relationship needs to be clearly defined. For example, the direct translation of the Chinese phrase "He said two sentences and then left" into English might cause ambiguity. Propose the "three-step verification method" : ensure that the pronoun is consistent with the anpreceding word in terms of singular and plural forms, has a clear gender, and is adjacent in position. Chapter 8 features an original "pronoun Tracking Method", which helps learners visualize the logic of reference by marking the positional relationship between antecedents and pronouns.