双语新闻|论文写作中如何组织英文语序-5

该篇是双语文章-论文写作序列（共5篇）中的最后1篇。

English has a strict order in which words can appear in a sentence. Just two or three badly constructed sentences may be enough for referees to initially recommend rejecting a paper and suggest having the English revised. Following some basic rules to writing sentences is very important.

英语中，单词出现在句子中的顺序很严格. 只要两三个结构糟糕的句子可能就足以让审稿人一开始就建议拒绝一篇论文，并建议修改英文。写句子的时候遵循一些基本的语序规则就尤为重要。

Basic word order in English

英语的基本语序

English has a strict order in which words can appear in a sentence. S1 shows an

example of this order.

英语中，单词出现在句子中的顺序很严格。请参考例句S1。

S1. The researchers sent their manuscript to the journal.

This order is rarely altered. It is:

1. subject (the researchers)

2. verb (sent)

3. direct object (their manuscript)

4. indirect object (the journal)

The key is to keep the subject, verb, direct object and indirect object as close to each

other as possible. This is illustrated in S2, which maintains the exact order of S1.

遵循英语语序的关键是要保证主语、动词、直接宾语和间接宾语要尽量接近。请参考例句S2，S2保持了与S1相同的顺序。

S2. Last week the researchers sent their manuscript to the journal for the second time.

S3. * The researchers last week sent for the second time to the journal their manuscript.

S3 is incorrect English. The position of last week and for the second time is wrong,and the indirect object comes before the direct object.

S3是不正确的，Last week和for the second time的位置不对。而且把间接宾语放在了直接宾语之前。

Choose the most relevant subject and put it at the beginning of the sentence

选择最相关的主语，并把它放在句首

Clear English requires that you put the subject at the beginning of the sentence, however you may have a choice of possible subjects.

清晰的英语要求你把主语放在句子的开头，然而，你可以选择可能的主语。

X was elicited by Y.

Y elicited X.

In the simple example above, your choice will depend on whether you want to emphasize X or Y. The one you want to emphasize should be put as the subject. 在上面的简单例子中，你的选择取决于你想强调的是X还是y。你想强调的应该作为主语。

The sentences below (S1–S4) come from a paper written by a physicist in a physics journal. They all contain exactly the same information. However, there are four possible subjects:

下面的句子 (S1-S4) 是来自一位物理学家在一本物理学杂志上发表的论文。它们都包含完全相同的信息。然而，有四个可能的主语:

S1. Particularly interesting for researchers in physics is the new feature, named X, for calculating velocity.

S2. Physics now has a new feature, named X, for calculating velocity.

S3. Velocity can now be calculated with a new feature, named X, which is particularly interesting

for physicists.

S4. X is a new feature for calculating velocity. It is particularly interesting for physicists.

Choose the subject that leads to the most concise sentence

选择能让句子最简洁的主语

If your sentence is short and you have two possible subjects, which you could indifferently put at the beginning of the sentence, then choose the subject that will give the shortest sentence (S2 rather than S1).

如果你的句子很短，你有两个可能的主语，你可以把它们放在句子的开头，然后选择给出最短的句子一个主语 (S2而不是S1)。

S1. The most significant values are highlighted in Table 1.

S2. Table 1 highlights the most significant values.

Shorter sentences are often obtained by using active (S2) rather than passive (S1)verbs.

较短的句子通常使用主动(S2)而不是被动(S1)动词。

Don’t use a pronoun (it, they) before you introduce the noun (i.e. the subject of the sentence) that the pronoun refers to.  

在引入名词（比如句子的主语）之前不要用指示代词（it，they）

It is OK to use a pronoun at the beginning of the sentence, provided that this pronoun refers back to a noun in a previous sentence. For example:

在句首使用代词是可以的，但必须保证这个代词指的是前一句中的某一个名词,比如：

S1. Beeswax is a very important substance because ... In fact, it is ...

In S1 it is clear that it refers to beeswax. But in S2 it refers to a noun that comes after (i.e. a forward reference). The reader does not know what the pronoun refers to and thus has to wait to find out.

在S1中，很容易看出It指代beeswax, 但是在S2中，It指代的是后面出现的名词。读者一开始并不知道it指代的是什么，必须等带后面才知道。

S2. *Although it is a very stable and chemically inert material, studies have verified that the composition of beeswax is …

S3. Although beeswax is a very stable and chemically inert material, studies have verified that its composition is …

S3 immediately tells the reader what the subject is.

S3直截了当的告诉读者主语是什么。

Keep the subject and verb as close as possible to each other

主语和动词尽量靠在一起

Word order in written English tends to reflect the way English is spoken. When native speakers talk they usually keep the subject and verb as close as possible. This is because the verb contains important information.

书面语的语序往往反映英语的口语方式。当以英语为母语的人说话时，他们通常把主语和动词尽可能地放在一起。这是因为动词包含了重要的信息。

If you insert more than a couple of words between the subject and the verb this will interrupt the reader’s train of thought. In any case readers will consider this parenthetical information to be of less importance.

如果你在主语和动词之间插入超过两三个词，就会打断读者的思路。在任何情况下，读者都会认为插入的信息是不那么重要的。

Sentences are much easier to read if they flow logically from step to step, without any deviations.

如果句子每一步都符合逻辑，不受干扰，就会更加易读。

S1. The result, after the calculation has been made, can be used to determine Y.

S2. After the calculation has been made, the result can be used to determine Y.

S2 is much better thanS1.

S2优于S1

Avoid creating strings of nouns that describe other nouns

避免描述其他名词的名词串

Native speakers do tend to string nouns together, but they intuitively know how to do it. In fact, they are not following any written rules, but they base themselves on examples that already exist. If you are a non-native speaker， we strongly recommend that you verify on Google Scholar that your proposed string of nouns already exists and has been used by native English-speaking authors. 以英语为母语的人确实倾向于把名词串在一起，但他们直觉上知道怎么做。事实上，他们并没有遵循任何书面规则，而是基于已经存在的例子。如果你的母语不是英语，我们强烈建议你在google Scholar上验证一下，你提出的一系列名词的确已经存在，并且已经被以英语为母语的作者使用过。

Of course, rules tend to have exceptions. The rules given here also have exceptions,

当然，规则往往有例外。这里给出的规则也有例外。