Technical Communication Style Words Department of Civil 技術(shù)交流的語言風(fēng)格土木系

1、 technical communication style: wordsnverb tensesnsubject-verb agreementndangling/misplaced modifiersnlimiting modifiersnnumbersndictionverb tenses: when to use present tenseintroduction: “researchers have long known that microbes can destroy contaminants in soil.”conclusions: “of the materials test

2、ed, high yield strength steel has the lowest strength to density ratio at 9 psi/kg/m3.”to state theory or established knowledgeto say what your report or document shows or covers.use mainly in introductions and conclusions past tense to describe what you did to speak biographically of another resear

3、chers actions to set up a historical continuumuse mainly in procedures, methodology, and background sections (also in parts of intro.)“researchers have long known that microbes can destroy contaminants in soil.”“in the first experiment, a catalysis was used . . .” future tenseto outline recommendati

4、ons for futurework or action use mainly in recommendationsdont use this tense to state what your thesis or report does!“this thesis will present the results of the study.”“this thesis presents the results of the study.”introductionsnuse mainly a combination of past and present tensenpast tense to gi

5、ve background of problem or situation or previous researchnpresent to state general theories and knowledgenpresent to say what your document covers subject-verb agreementdo these subjects agree with their verbs? each of the ideas are very helpful. none of the tubes have been tested. the projected in

6、crease in production rate and period, in spite of lowered profit margins, are sufficient to keep the company solvent. the data gathered by a prominent researcher has proven to be false. a band of gypsies has been camping here.dangling modifiershaving broken down many times in the past, we knew that

7、we could not rely on that equipment.having broken down many times in the past, the equipment could not be relied upon.we knew that,dangling modifiers are a subset of misplaced modifiers.ndangling modifiers happen at the beginning of a sentence. nthey often begin with an ing verb: havingnmisplaced mo

8、difiers can happen anywhere in a sentence. nthe other day i shot an elephant in my pajamas. nthey are often prepositional phrases. another examplenwhere should the phrase “at this time” be placed?n“it is important to note at this time that only the inorganic forms of mercury are used in industry.”n“

9、it is important to note that at this time only the inorganic forms of mercury are used in industry.”limiting modifiersnthese are easily misplaced one word modifiersnthe instructor just nodded to me as she came in.nthe instructor nodded to me just as she came in.nthe instructor nodded just to me as s

10、he came in.numbersncheck with style sheet in your organization follow itnif no style sheet, follow these guidelines:nwrite out numbers “one” through “ten.”ndo not mix numerals and words for items in same list, except when quantities are adjacent:nwrong: 15 wells, three aquifersnwrong: 11 90-ohm resistorsnuse numerals or words for items listed in handout.diction: commonlymisused wordsnaffect/effectnamong/betweennimply/inferncriteria/criterionndata/datumncite/sitenmostly, affect is th