托福考试的作文一直让不少烤鸭十分挠头。从确定主题、理清思路,到划好层次、遣词造句,环环相扣缺一不可,因此作文永远不是一项小工程!
虽说ETS在评判托福作文时采用的是综合评分的方式,即以作文的整体水平判分,而不纠结于小细节。但有些同学往往会在语言方面疏漏多多,问题明显到影响了考官整体评断的程度,那即便你的思路和论证属于一流,最多也只能得个二流分数,岂不可惜!
下面,我们就来谈一谈同学们在托福写作中最容易犯的语言错误。大家可以对号入座,看看自己是不是也犯过类似的错误呢?

1. 用词不当

原:The absence of groupwork is a disaster for teenagers in modern society.
改:The absence of teamwork is a disaster for teenagers in modern society.
评:groupwork是“分组”或者“小组集体任务”的意思。这位同学原本想说teamwork“团队合作”,却用了一个看起来很像,但实际完全不同的词,表达出来的意思就风马牛不相及了。

原:You will be dangerous if you keep moving without a clear view of the whole picture.
改:You will be in danger if you keep moving without a clear view of the whole picture.
评:dangerous表示所修饰的对象是“带来危险的,有危险性的”,而be in danger才是“身处险境”的意思。到底谁才是威胁呢?

原:Firstly, the job, providing the opportunity for students to utilize what they learned in class, might effect their further development.
改:Firstly, the job, providing the opportunity for students to utilize what they learned in class, might affect their further development.
评:模样长得像,意思可不同了。这里想用动词affect表示“影响”,却误写为名词effect“效果”,一字千里啊!

2. 搭配错误

原:Nowadays, people are crazy pursuing to be excellent.
改:Nowadays, people are crazy about excellence.
评:这位同学显然记错了be crazy about sth. 这个用法,写出来的句子自然会出问题啦。

原:Besides, public speech can effectively increase your communication skills, which facilitate your salesman career.
改:Besides, public speech can effectively improve your communication skills, which facilitate your salesman career.
评:此处是一个明显的动宾搭配错误。“提高……技巧”应该是improve the skills,而不是increase the skills.

3.词性错位

原:I will forget my sad and pressure from the work and the study.
改:I will forget my sadness and pressure from work and study.
评:sad是形容词,而这里明显需要一个名词,应该是sadness。

原:Although making money is a priority for most people, spending time with the family is equal significant.
改:…, spending time with the family is equally significant.
评:形容词significant前需要用副词来修饰,所以equal应该改成equally。

4. 时态混乱

原:Although I have no work experience when I was a teenager, I always dreamed about having a job.
改:Although I had no work experience when I was a teenager, I always dreamed about having a job.
评:过去时的句子中冒出了现在时,同学你太粗心了,要仔细检查哦~

原:I would explain my view in the following paragraphs.
改:I’d like to explain… / I will explain…
评:可能是两种说法记混了吧,结果把时态搞错了……

5. 主谓不一致

原:The way we deal with the environmental problems are crucial to the prosperity of human-being.
改:The way we deal with the environmental problems is crucial to the prosperity of human-being.
评:谓语之前有两个名词时,主谓搭配的问题就常常出现了。这里真正的主语应该是单数名词the way,所以与之搭配的谓语也应该是单数的is。

6. 重复累赘

原:From my point of view, I think this argument is quite limited since many other ways can also help learning a foreign country.
改:From my point of view, this argument is quite limited since many other ways can also help us learn a foreign country.
评:from my point of view和I think重复啦,保留一个就好。当然这里建议留下更“高级”的from my point of view.

原:There are the majority of people who deem that they like to spend money on things which can bring them long memory.
改:Majority of the people like to spend money on things that can be memorized for long.
评:中文句式说的“有很多人……”,但别一看到“有”就非要用there be句型不可哦,直接摆出主谓宾就行了。
“things that can be memorized for long”,被动语态明显更地道~

7. 中式英语

原:Thus, one is easier to draw bosses’ attention and gain appreciation.
改:Thus, it’s easier for you to draw bosses’ attention and gain appreciation.
评:中文习惯说“人们可以更容易地吸引老板的注意力”,而英语则习惯说“It’s easier for sb. to…”同学们要注意中英表述习惯的区别哦!