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Grammar and Clarity: Abstract Subjects

时间:2022-08-18 01:40:22

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(单词翻译)

Grammar and Clarity1: Abstract Subjects

Imagine you are giving a presentation or writing a letter. You have done your research and organized your main points. You have checked your grammar and vocabulary to make sure everything is correct.

But something is missing. A final step that is just as important – if not more important. What is it?

A check for clarity.

Clarity – the quality of being easily understood – will be the subject of today's report.

You will learn about the difference between clarity and grammar. You will also learn one of the best ways to check your presentation or writing for clarity.

Difference between clarity and grammar

Clarity and grammar and two closely related issues. We can explore the difference between them by making a comparison to metalworking.

Imagine you are a skilled metalworker who is making a high-quality tool such as a chef's knife. First, you collect raw materials for the tool. Then, you follow the exact order of actions to put them in high and cool temperatures, and so on, to make a knife.

Vocabulary is like the raw materials – such as iron, steel, or other metal mixtures -- that go into making the tool.

Grammar – putting words together in certain ways – is like putting raw materials together in an exact order to make a knife.

Still, to make a high-quality knife, you need polishing and sharpening to make it look beautiful and cut smoothly2. In presentation and writing, that is clarity!

What can you do?

Remember that statements can be grammatically3 correct but unclear. And statements that are somewhat clear can become very clear.

You can check for clarity in different ways. Start by double-checking sentences that begin with an abstract subject. Abstract subjects do not easily answer the following question: Who is doing something?

Consider this example, which comes from Nora Bacon's The Well-Crafted Sentence.

The phenomenon of "boomerang children," young adults who return to live with their parents after graduating from college, is an occurrence5 faced by many families today.

The sentence is grammatically correct but could be clearer. Why? The subject is "the phenomenon," as in "the phenomenon of boomerang children."

This sentence does not have a clear actor – a person or thing that is doing something.

Bacon says this sentence is better:

Many families face the phenomenon of "boomerang children," young adults who return to live with their parents after graduating from college.

The subject of this sentence is "many families." The action is "face" – meaning to deal with something in a direct way.

Practice

Let's take some time to work with this idea. Imagine you see or hear the following sentence:

With the growing use of Slack6 in business situations, the pros7 and cons4 of the technology should be considered by the conference's speakers.

How would you change this sentence into something that is polished and clear?

Can you identify the subject of the sentence? Do you think a different word or expression would work better in the subject position?

Closing thoughts

At first, you might find it difficult to look back on your work and check for clarity. You might need to make many changes. But that is exactly what expert writers and speakers do. They almost never present or publish something without careful checking!

Remember: language is a kind of skill. Skills take time and hard work to develop. But with patience and practice, you, too, can become an expert.

Words in This Story

chef – n. a professional cook who usually is in charge of a kitchen in a restaurant

polish – v. to make (something) smooth and shiny by rubbing it

abstract – adj. relating to or involving general ideas or qualities rather than specific people, objects, or actions

phenomenon – n. as an interesting fact or event) that can be observed and studied and that typically is unusual or difficult to understand or explain fully8

boomerang – n. : a curved, flat, wooden tool that can be thrown in such a way that it returns to the thrower

occurrence -- n. something that happens

pros and cons expression - reasons to do something (pros) and reasons to not do something (cons); an argument for something (pros) and an argument against something (cons)


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1 clarity uXazE     
n.清澈,透明,明晰
参考例句:
  • His writing has great clarity of style.他的写作风格清晰易懂。
  • Mozart's music is characterized by its naivety and clarity.莫扎特的音乐特色是纯朴兴清澈。
2 smoothly iiUzLG     
adv.平滑地,顺利地,流利地,流畅地
参考例句:
  • The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作,所以工作进展顺利。
  • Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。
3 grammatically ErYzwY     
adv.符合语法规则地
参考例句:
  • This essay is grammatically smooth and readable. 这篇作文写得还顺。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • Grammatically, the Sanskrit paradigm exemplifies the concept of radical. 从语法的观点看,梵语的变格范例明确了词根的概念。 来自辞典例句
4 cons eec38a6d10735a91d1247a80b5e213a6     
n.欺骗,骗局( con的名词复数 )v.诈骗,哄骗( con的第三人称单数 )
参考例句:
  • The pros and cons cancel out. 正反两种意见抵消。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
  • We should hear all the pros and cons of the matter before we make a decision. 我们在对这事做出决定之前,应该先听取正反两方面的意见。 来自《简明英汉词典》
5 occurrence M5OzP     
n.发生,出现,事件,发生的事件
参考例句:
  • Two things account for its occurrence.发生这件事的原因有两个。
  • For a military commander,winning or losing a battle is a common occurrence.胜败乃兵家常事。
6 slack mxwwc     
adj.松弛的,萧条的,懈怠的;vt.使松弛
参考例句:
  • Slack off those ropes there,there's a storm coming!把那里的绳索放松,暴风雨就要来了!
  • Some are hard at work and some are slack in work.有的勤奋工作,有的则消极怠工。
7 pros pros     
abbr.prosecuting 起诉;prosecutor 起诉人;professionals 自由职业者;proscenium (舞台)前部n.赞成的意见( pro的名词复数 );赞成的理由;抵偿物;交换物
参考例句:
  • The pros and cons cancel out. 正反两种意见抵消。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
  • We should hear all the pros and cons of the matter before we make a decision. 我们在对这事做出决定之前,应该先听取正反两方面的意见。 来自《简明英汉词典》
8 fully Gfuzd     
adv.完全地,全部地,彻底地;充分地
参考例句:
  • The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气,然后全部呼出。
  • They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

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