曙光就在前面！（不是吗？L＝light！）

如果你的目标是写小说，应该看原版The Elements of Style （免费下载）：

http://www.jlakes.org/ch/web/The-elements-of-style.pdf

为了“完整”性，我们继续用The Elements of Style 。不喜欢看英文原著的，凑合着看我的注解（不是翻译）。

有时，我会用Google Translate。GT现在还不成熟，你不要拿它当回事。

IV Words and Expressions Commonly Misused 

第四部分（45-63页），我只挑其中一小部分注解一下，因为我们是学习科技英语写作。如果你“喜欢”另外一些词，请告诉我。我会考虑补充。

Kind of. Except in familiar style, not to be used as a substitute for ratheror something like. Restrict it to its literal sense: "Amber is a kind of fossil resin"; "I dislike that kind of publicity." The same holds true for sort of.


Google Translate: 除了熟悉的风格，不能用作替代或类似的东西。将其限制在字面意义上：“琥珀是一种化石树脂”; “我不喜欢那种宣传。”对于那种情况也是如此。

注解：一般不能替换rather 或 something like。sort of 也和kind of是一样。比如：

"Amber is a kind of fossil resin"; 

"I dislike that kind of publicity."

Lay. A transitive verb. Except in slang ("Let it lay"), do not misuse it for the intransitive verb lie. The hen, or the play, laysan egg; the llama liesdown. The playwright went home and laydown. 

Google Translate: 及物动词。除了俚语（“让它躺下”），不要滥用它作为不及物动词谎言。母鸡或戏剧产下一个鸡蛋;骆驼躺下了。剧作家回家躺下。

注解：常常用错的词。Lie的过去式是lay。但是，lay本身又是一个动词的原型。唯一的办法就是用的时候小心翼翼。

lie, lay, lain, lying 

lay, laid, laid, laying 

Leave. Not to be misused for let. 

注解：不是let。

Leave it stand the way it is.  （leave）

Let it stand the way it is.       （let）

Less. Should not be misused for fewer. 

注解：不是fewer。

They had less workers than in the previous campaign. （less，不可数）

They had fewer workers than in the previous campaign. （fewer，可数）

Lessrefers to quantity, fewerto number. "His troubles are less than mine" means "His troubles are not so great as mine." "His troubles are fewer than mine" means "His troubles are not so numerous as mine."


注解：less是“量”，fewer是“数”。看例子和解释：

"His troubles are less than mine" means "His troubles are not so great as mine." 

"His troubles are fewer than mine" means "His troubles are not so numerous as mine."


Like. Not to be used for the conjunction as.Likegoverns nouns and pronouns; before phrases and clauses the equivalent word is as. 

注解：原作者认为like不能引导词组和从句。

We spent the evening like in the old days. 

应该是：We spent the evening as in the old days. 

Chloë smells good, like a baby should. 

应该是：Chloë smells good, as a baby should. 

The use of likefor ashas its defenders; they argue that any usage that achieves currency becomes valid automatically. This, they say, is the way the language is formed. It is and it isn't. An expression sometimes merely enjoys a vogue, much as an article of apparel does. Likehas long been widely misused by the illiterate; lately it has been taken up by the knowing and the well- informed, who find it catchy, or liberating, and who use it as though they were slumming. If every word or device that achieved currency were immediately authenticated, simply on the ground of popularity, the language would be as chaotic as a ball game with no foul lines. For the student, perhaps the most useful thing to know about likeis that most carefully edited publications regard its use before phrases and clauses as simple error.

Google Translate: 使用like for as作为其防御者;他们认为任何实现货币的用法都会自动生效。他们说，这就是语言形成的方式。它是，它不是。表达有时仅仅是一种时尚，就像一件衣服一样。长期以来被文盲广泛滥用;最近它被知识和消息灵通者所接受，他们发现它很吸引人，或者解放，并且使用它就好像它们是贫民窟一样。如果实现货币的每个单词或设备都立即被认证，仅仅基于受欢迎程度，语言将像没有罚球线的球赛一样混乱。对于学生来说，也许最有用的知识就是大多数经过精心编辑的出版物都将其在短语和从句之前的用法视为简单的错误。

注解：看了GT翻译的第一句，我，吓得跳了起来！AI居然能分辨出“被解释的词”！原作者为了让“受过教育”的人不要乱用like，发表了一通讲演。我想，对我们来说，只需要记住：like不能引导词组和从句！

Line. Along these lines. Line in the sense of "course of procedure, conduct, thought" is allowable but has been so overworked, particularly in the phrase along these lines, that a writer who aims at freshness or originality had better discard it entirely. 

Google Translate: 在“程序，行为，思想”的意义上的界限是允许的，但是过度劳累，特别是在这些方面的短语中，一个以新鲜感或原创性为目标的作家最好完全抛弃它。

注解：科技英语可以用。

Mr. B. also spoke along the same lines. 

推荐：Mr. B. also spoke to the same effect. 

Literal. Literally. Often incorrectly used in support of exaggeration or violent metaphor. 

Google Translate: 经常错误地用于支持夸张或暴力隐喻。

注解：科技英语应该是中性的。少用。

a literal flood of abuse 

推荐：a flood of abuse 

［科技英语写作基础（系列）：大纲（1）

http://blog.sciencenet.cn/home.php?mod=space&uid=306792&do=blog&id=1146690

科技英语写作基础（系列）：大纲（2）

http://blog.sciencenet.cn/home.php?mod=space&uid=306792&do=blog&id=1146716］

1.    语态（1）

2.    常用时态

3.    一些标点符号“规则”（句号、逗号，参考The Elements of Style Part I）

4.    一些语法“规则”（主语、谓语的一致性、变化多端的代词、分词短语的主人，参考The Elements of Style Part I）

5.    一些基本的写作“原则”（文章结构、段落、语态、简洁性等，参考The Elements of Style）

6.    一些容易用错的词和词组（参考The Elements of Style）

7.    修改、修改、再修改［简洁为上, see Chapter 7 Concision by Joseph／三种修饰语＋两种“问题修饰语”，即悬空修饰语（p161）、错位修饰语／, see Chapter 8 Length by Joseph／逻辑性／一致性］

请大家多提意见。