托福寫作用詞要注意的一些問題

他們認為通過名詞化可以產(chǎn)生大量抽象概念，滿足英語表達抽象概念的需要。因此，擅用名詞化不僅體現(xiàn)了寫作水平，更是一種思維方式。曾經(jīng)一個針對中國幾所頂尖大學的優(yōu)秀作文的調(diào)查顯示，20 篇優(yōu)秀作文中名詞化的使用頻率為7%-8%，而普通習作的使用頻率僅為5%-6%。與此同時，選用了20 篇英語國家學生的英語作文，同樣的方法統(tǒng)計出其名詞化的使用頻率為10%-15%。有人更是戲說道，老外眼中句子分為3個檔次，最差的是主動句，較好的是被動句，倒裝句等，最好的nominalization(名詞化)的句子，這樣的句子最學術(shù)最適合寫論文。那么面對這樣的差異，我們需要重新審視我們寫作中的思維方式，做到如何恰到好處又不“畫蛇添足”。

簡單說，名詞化即是動詞或形容詞被用作名詞的現(xiàn)象。比如動詞轉(zhuǎn)成名詞：discovery->discovery， move->movement， refuse->refusal，又比如形容詞轉(zhuǎn)成名詞：careless->carelessness， difficult->difficulty， intense->intensity。那么什么情況下，我們需要進行名詞化呢?

A 謂語動詞的賓語部分

原句：I do not know either what she meant or what he intends.

名詞化：I do not know either her meaning or his intentions.

B 結(jié)合被動形式

原句：If people decide without enough persuasive information，...

名詞化：If a decision is made without enough persuasive information，...

C 取代諸如從句中“the fact that”的用法

原句：The fact that I denied what he accused me of impressed the jury.

名詞化：My denial of his accusations impressed the jury.

更好的名詞化：a. When I denied his accusations， I impressed the jury.

b. In denying his accusations， I impressed the jury.

D 名詞化部分用在there is/are的后面

原句：We demand that the government stop taxing entertainment.

名詞化：There is a demand for an end to taxation on entertainment.

原句：The floods considerably eroded the land.

名詞化：There was considerable erosion of the land from the floods.

然而，有些時候，在我們的思維方式中認為理所應當使用“名詞化”時，老外認為是沒有必要的。比如：

A 名詞化部分跟在動詞后面

原句(名詞化“冗余”)：The police conducted an investigation into the matter.

改后：The police investigated the matter.

B 名詞化部分作為主語

原句：Our discussion is concerned with a tax cut.

改后：We discussed a tax cut.

C 連續(xù)進行名詞化

原句：a. First， she reviewed the evolution of the dorsal fin.

b. There was a first a review of the evolution of the dorsal fin.

改后：First， she reviewed how the dorsal fin evolved.

D 連接部分名詞化

原句：Their cessation of hostilities was because of their personnel losses.

改后：They ceased hostilities because they lost personnel.

原句：The instability of the motor housing did not preclude the completion of the field trials.

改后：Even though the motor housing was unstable， the research staff completed the field trials.