根据韦氏词典的定义,介词是“a word or group of words that combines with a noun or pronoun to form a phrase that usually acts as an adverb, adjective, or noun”,用中文理解就是“与名词或代词相结合使用的一个词或一组词,所形成的短语通常充当副词、形容词或名词使用”。这种定义人们可能听到过很多次,但可能还是不太清楚究竟什么是介词,以及为什么在英语写作时不能忽略这些令人困惑的词,如何才能避免将它们弄混。
本文阐述介词在句子中的功能,以及为了确保英语写作正确清晰所应避免的常见错误。本文还针对介词的用法提供常用表达方式列表,供学术论文的作者在校对手稿时参考。
介词究竟做什么用?
介词用于其他单词或短语之间,告诉读者:某人或某事与其他人或事之间的位置关系,某人对某事或其他人做了什么,人与事物如何联系等。设想一下如果只用名词和代词造句,省略所有介词,而理由只是因为介词令人困惑不好用,而你又不想选错介词,所以干脆弃之不用。那么,你这样写出来或说出来的句子就是:
“I put the book the table noon. ”
为了掌握介词的用法,我们仔细分析一下这句话究竟出了什么问题。当你对你的朋友这样说话时,如果他正在找这本书,因为他需要这本书来完成作业,那他将不知道在哪里才能找到这本书。而这就是因为你没有说明句子中不同元素之间的关系——你是不是把书放在了桌子上面?这很有可能。但是,你也可以把书放在了桌子下面、桌子旁边、桌子后面,或者桌子里面(如果有抽屉的话)。
而且,还因为你没有说明行动(把书放在什么地方)与时间(中午)之间的关系,你的朋友可能会更加困惑。因为动词“put”既可以代表过去时,也可以代表现在时,那么这句话的含义就存在很多种可能性了。你的意思很可能是你已经把书放在桌子的上面、里面、后面或下面了,而放置的时间发生在中午之前或中午。所以,如果现在已经是下午2点,书还没有在那里,那么一定是发生了什么事情,你这样说话就误导和迫使你的朋友想办法去调查一下。
但是,另外一种可能性是你的朋友猜测你使用时态比较随意,那么你有可能将在中午把书放在那里。如果是这样,你其实应该说“I will”。但是,由于你的句子非常令人困惑和缺少信息,你的朋友便有很好的理由首先质疑你的语法。如果他这时现在看了看手表,发现现在是下午12点3分,他可能会认为你很快就会来,那么就可能决定在等候期间先去喝杯咖啡。
你看到这里可能会乐了,你或许认为这个缺失介词的例子扯得有点夸张,但实际上它恰好说明介词的重要性和缺失或误用介词所导致的严重后果。你或许觉得你的朋友应该很容易能够弄清楚究竟发生了什么,因为毕竟还有上下文可供推断。但是,需要记住的是,英语与许多亚洲语言不同,它是一种低语境语言;换言之,使用者必须尽可能精确,避免歧义,以便清晰地交流。因此,与其将介词误认为是一个可用可不用的、令人困惑的语法难点,还不如老老实实地接受介词的复杂性,并将重视它们,将介词视为必不可少的、关键性的句子元素,帮助你准确地表达你想说的意思。
读者能够在很多线上或线下的英文写作指导资源中找到详细的语法规则、介词列表和常见的用法示例。本文不重复这些内容。本文重点讨论英语不是母语的学术论文作者在写作时最常犯的介词错误,以及如何检查和纠正它们。
目录
如何检查介词的用法
学术论文中常见的介词错误
学术论文中介词的正确用法
关于介词规则的问答
如何检查介词的用法
介词可以用来表示方向、时间、空间、位置、地点或更加抽象的关系。介词的正确用法遵循高度习惯化原则,主要由固定的表达方式决定。因此,除了大量阅读习惯用法之外,正确使用介词的最好方法是了解单词与所有能够搭配使用的介词所形成的不同含义。查找介词及其正确用法的比较好的参考资料是韦氏在线词典、剑桥词典和当代美国英语语料库。
人们可以简单地使用谷歌搜索(Google search)或谷歌的Ngram Viewer查看所使用的搜索字符串的年度出现频率。这两个搜索工具都能显示短语出现的频率。Ngram Viewer还能显示同一个动词与不同介词组合在一起时出现的频率。许多动词的意思取决于它们搭配使用的介词。另外,虽然“grateful for”这个词出现的频率比“grateful to”的频率更低,但这并不意味着其中一个是正确的、而另一个是错误的。这些词组之间的频率比较只表示人们更频繁地使用什么词组而已。
事实上,正是因为介词的数量庞大,而且动词与不同介词组合时会产生不同的意思,所以介词误用是学术写作中最常见的错误之一。既然介词并没有很多通用规则可供遵循,那么就应当先从各个用法实例入手,看一下学术论文中常见的介词错误,以及应该如何纠正。
学术论文中常见的介词错误
1. 时间:由于时间区段、间隔、周期、时间表等在科研工作中非常重要,需要注意表达时间的介词用法,避免歧义和混淆。这些介词包括at、on、in、for、during、since、before、after、between、within等。
错误: The samples were incubated during 30 minutes.
正确: The samples were incubated for 30 minutes.
错误: The patient had been treated by us since 2 years.
正确: The patient had been treated by us for 2 years.
错误: Participants were enrolled between January 2021 to May 2021.
正确: Participants were enrolled between January 2021 and May 2021.
正确: Participants were enrolled from January 2021 to May 2021.
2. 位置和方向:事情发生的位置或事物放置的位置也是实验或科研中的重要细节。误用表达位置和方向的介词会导致歧义,特别是在论文的方法部分。这些介词包括at、on、in、above、behind、below、close to、inside、over等。
正确: The green arrow was displayed among the red circles.
正确: The green arrow was displayed between the red circles.
正确: The green arrow was displayed above the red circles.
正确: The green arrow was displayed across the red circles.
错误: The patient presented to our hospital.
正确: The patient presented at our hospital.
错误: One additional variable was entered to the analysis.
正确: One additional variable was entered into the analysis.
3. 比较:任何实验或研究结果通常都在比较的基础上进行描述。需要在论文的结果部分正确使用介词,包括than、to、as、among、with、from等。
错误:The students’ replies were similar than the office workers’ replies.
错误:The students’ replies were similar as the office workers’ replies.
正确: The students’ replies were similar to the office workers’ replies.
错误:The design of experiment 2 was the same to the design of experiment 2.
正确: The design of experiment 2 was the same as the design of experiment 2.
错误: The mode of action of cilostazol is different with that of acetylsalicylic acid.
正确: The mode of action of cilostazol is different from that of acetylsalicylic acid.
错误: Cardiac blood concentrations were higher as peripheral blood concentrations.
正确: Cardiac blood concentrations were higher than peripheral blood concentrations.
学术论文中介词的正确用法
以下英文列表包括在学术论文的各个部分中常见的介词用法,包括容易混淆的介词。在论文定稿之前,建议对照查看这些用法,纠正误用的介词。
1. 引言部分
X is the leading cause of Y in most industrialized countries.
X is a common disease characterized by…
X is a widely discussed issue in the field of…
Recent developments in X have raised questions about…
In recent years, increasing attention has been drawn to…
The majority of earlier studies on X have focused on…
Over the past 20 years, the incidence of Y has steadily increased.
In the last 20 years, a number of studies have reported on…
Since the late 1980s, advancements in the field of Y have led to…
We tested the effect of antibiotics on bacteria in the treatment of…
Past research into X has been lacking, due to methodological restrictions.
A limited number of experiments have been reported on X so far.
Despite its long use in clinical research, method X still has serious limitations.
The main purpose of our study was to expand our understanding of…
2. 方法部分
The patient presented at our hospital with dizziness.
The patient suffered from gastrointestinal bleeding.
The patient complained of recurring headaches.
Patients underwent surgery on the first day of hospital admission.
Patients with no complaints during the past 2 weeks were considered pain-free.
Participants who reported not having a smartphone were excluded from the study.
A total of 45 participants who provided consent were included in the analyses.
To prevent participants from moving, we placed a cushion under their head.
In order to detect motion artefacts, the data were analyzed with Y software.
Samples were collected over a period of…
Stimuli were presented at intervals of…
3. 结果与讨论部分
Our comparison of different fish species revealed differences in food preference.
The majority of participants responded to all questionnaire items.
Group 1 showed a bigger effect than group 2.
Nine of the 20 mice died of respiration arrest.
Our analyses show that there are problems associated with the use of…
We tested the correlation between X and Y and found that…
ANOVA was used to assess the effect of X on Y.
Figure 3 shows the differences between the treatment and control groups.
We found no significant reduction in X compared to baseline concentrations.
Our findings provide crucial insights into…
Our findings point to an important role of X in…
The results of the current study are not consistent with earlier findings.
Our findings differ from those of earlier studies.
Our results are in line with those of earlier studies.
The differences between our study and that by Smith et a. can be explained by…
A possible explanation for the discrepancy in results could be that…
The differences could be attributed to…
Our results show the effectiveness of X as a cure for Y in elderly patients.
Our findings highlight the role of X in the treatment of Y.
Further studies focusing on X are needed to clarify the role of…
关于介词规则的问答
1. 句子能够以介词结尾吗?
是的,可以。有人或许听说过不能用介词结束句子的说法,但是这种说法是错误的。努力试图不以介词结尾会导致写出的英文非常不自然。
YES(正确) Where did he come from?
由于不能只说“Where did he come?”,而“From where did he come?”又听起来在语法上有些过时,那么在这种情况下,以介词结尾的写法会更好,如上例。
2. 可以省略介词吗?
不能简单地省略介词。但是,可以重新措辞,避免使用介词。这种做法实际上能够减少用词啰嗦的写法,提高写作水平。关于更多介绍,建议查看这篇文章:如何消除介词短语。
3. 我检查了我用的介词,但如何能够也检查词汇?
如果你担心会混淆类似的单词,那么请看这篇文章,以及关于有效短语和强有力动词方面的更多写作指导资源。