Stregato claims to be a warm and low-key person. His English learning journey started late. Here, all kinds of arduous goals are set as models of self-improvement, at least matching those great people step by step. Here, Sisyphean hardships continue to occur, but eventually he will find himself forgotten. As an English enthusiast and a little introverted person, I want to take this opportunity to immerse myself in an atmosphere full of vitality and vitality with all of you, and don't settle down because of the honor in our hands. Let's stride forward.

This self-introduction brings together many typical writing problems. For example, there are many big words and difficult words in the above article: Odyssey, Hercules, apotheosis, great man, Sisyphus, praise, but these words are all wrong. The following is a brief analysis:

(1) The word Odyssey can be traced back to the Greek epic Odyssey, which is said to have been written by Homer and describes Odysseus' experience of returning home ten years after the Trojan War. The extended meaning of this word is "a long and thrilling journey". For example, it can be said that "his historical odyssey crossed the spice islands", and it is not appropriate to use Odyssey to refer to the bumpy English learning process here.

(2) We can also see that herculean means "laborious" in the text, and the common collocation is herculean's efforts/tasks. Herculean can't be used to describe "goals", but can be changed to ambitious goals.

(3) Deification is a very formal word, which is generally used to refer to the model of art or character quality. It can be said that it is the apotheosis of romantic art (a model of romantic art), but it cannot be said that it is the apotheosis of self-improvement.

(4)big shot (the original big shot is misused) generally refers to "an important person (in a group or organization), such as a big man in local politics. What the author wants to express here is "a person with excellent English", which can not be described by bigshot, but can be changed into an advanced English learner according to the context.

(5) Sisyphus comes from the legend of Greek mythology Sisyphus. Sisyphus was punished for his previous sins. He wanted to roll a boulder to the top of the mountain endlessly, but the boulder always rolled down again and again after reaching the top of the mountain. Sisyph's extended meaning is that "(the task) is impossible and endless". We can say that it is a Sisyphean task, but we can't say that it is a Sisyphean ordeal.

(6) Praise generally means that an artist or scientist has won honors or awards, but the original context is "not satisfied with the praise of others", so the big word praise cannot be used. In addition, the original ... never settle down with all the accommodated cast, and the usage of "settle with" is also problematic (this usage does not exist). The common collocation for settling down is settle to sth. According to the original meaning, this sentence can be changed to ... never rest on its laurels.

(getlost is not used correctly. The author originally wanted to express "immersed in the English world with you", but wrote "lost in the English world with you". I want to take this opportunity to share the fun of learning English with you.

(8) Forgetting is also a very formal word, which has two meanings: "(something) is forgotten; Be destroyed by (a bomb, etc). ) "does not conform to the original context." These Sisyphus-style difficulties and challenges will eventually disappear.

Don't laugh, the classmate above is not an example. A similar problem also happens to many learners: writing always piles up big words, difficult words and complex sentence patterns, but it is almost wrong to use them.

Generally speaking, these students have a relatively good vocabulary and can know a lot of words, but the way of accumulating vocabulary is too simple and extensive (for example, only remembering the Chinese definition of words and not knowing their usage context), which will lead to frequent mistakes and omissions in practical application, and the sentences written will not stand scrutiny.

As a contrast, let's take a look at how The Economist, also known for its difficult words and complex sentence patterns, completed this series of "difficult" writing (excerpted from the article "The Case of Liberalism Optimization"):

This newspaper rudely deprived the editors of the self-centered decoration of our industry. Sadly, these pages don't have a weekly "editor's letter" to readers, under a beaming photo. On the Internet, there is an email every week, but it comes from your "desk", not you. As an editor, you spend your time in pathetic obscurity, only comforted by the fact that you have the best job in journalism. But there are two exceptions to indulgence: mention it briefly when appointing; The parting leader tried to sum up the world.

Like the first one, there are many big words on it. For example, rude, self-centered, depressed, indulgent, farewell and hurtful, but they are very vivid and just right. For example, the author deliberately used big words to emphasize the "unkindness" of The Economist to the editor, which led to many people's anonymity (because all articles in the magazine were unsigned and there was no so-called "editor's remarks" column) to achieve the effect of self-mockery.

The difference between the two may lie in whether you can use big words and long sentences well. This is the embodiment of a person's English level, but it is a very high threshold. Don't try it easily before you have a thorough understanding of the meaning and context of use. The fundamental goal of writing is to express ideas clearly and forcefully, and blindly piling up big words and difficult words may have the opposite effect.

For example, for the above example:

Stregato, who claims to be enthusiastic and low-key, is a late starter in English learning. He has set various arduous goals for self-improvement. ...

The whole sentence is too obscure and procrastinating. It is best to change it to the following version:

I started learning English when I was older, and set an ambitious goal to be fluent in English.

In order to express our thoughts better, we should pay attention to the collocation of context and common words in writing.

In fact, it is not difficult to do this. Looking up the dictionary and imitating examples can solve most problems.

For example, how to determine the reasonable collocation and usage context of the word depreciation? Look it up in the dictionary, and you will see this explanation:

From this, it can be determined that depreciable can mean that people's words and deeds make people angry, or the environmental conditions are very bad. A common collocation is a derogatory condition/behavior/event, and it is not easy to make mistakes when writing.

Not just look it up in the dictionary. In addition, there are two places that need our special attention:

1. Discrimination of Synonyms

2. Expression diversity

Few words in English can truly achieve strict equivalence, and many synonyms have subtle differences in meaning. To use words accurately, the first step is to learn to distinguish.

For the expression of "bringing up the topic", the author uses the word "broach" instead of what we usually call "emotion/proposal", because "broach" has another meaning besides "bringing up", which is more suitable for the original context.

To improve the ability of distinguishing synonyms, we can not only look up dictionaries, but also study related books systematically. The Commercial Press has published an Oxford English Synonym Learning Dictionary, which compares and explains words with similar meanings one by one, and even arranges some words according to the strength of their meanings to help learners understand the subtle differences between words. Recommend interested students to start.

Foreign students should also pay attention to expressing diversity when writing. After all, it is inevitable that people will be a little monotonous when writing articles, such as simply repeating a word or phrase many times. Increasing the diversity of words is helpful to improve the expression effect.

(a) Just as drones can make up for bad roads, in theory, mobile phones can overcome the problem of lack of well-functioning banks, portable solar panels can replace missing power stations, and free learning applications can replace incomplete education.

In the end, the United States is also in trouble. The technology stock bubble burst in early 2000, which triggered a broader stock price crash. Business investment, especially technology investment, has declined; With the stock price falling, consumers cut back on spending. By the beginning of 2006, the United States, along with most rich countries, had slipped into a recession, albeit a mild one.

There are two main ways to realize the diversity of words:

(1) synonym replacement, for example, the phrases make up for, stand in for and substitute for are used to mean the same meaning "replacement".

(2) the change of expression, for example, there are several different ways to express "economic downturn", such as being in trouble, suggesting that the stock price plummeted, corporate investment sank, and the stock price fell and slipped into recession.

Students should remember that our writing goal is not only to finish an article at will, but also to use accurate words. Whether it is a difficult word or a commonly used word, we should clearly use context and collocation when using it, and we can't expect words to have meaning and copy them mechanically. It is an effective way to look up the dictionary and learn more wonderful examples. In addition, learning to distinguish synonyms and improve the diversity of words will also help us to use words accurately.