以我在美求学的经验，向大家提一些尽量可以避免的写作常识问题，希望对大家的考试，乃至以后赴美求学的漫漫征程有所裨益。时间所限，不可能写全，但是我会不断补充的。还有在文章中引用的那些片断，并没有攻击作者的意思，只不过拿出来和大家探讨一下。

    1、避免使用反问句、设问句。特别是作者也没有答案的问题。

    例如： What’s the objective of the information? Is it to make people more confused and astray? I partly agree with the author’s contention¹ that the enormous and otiose² information sometimes render people lose their way and fail to consider question penetratingly and originally.

　　在作文的开头就扔出两个问题，然后接下来的陈述却与问题基本毫无干系。作为读者，首先要考虑那两个问题的答案到底是什么，然后才能往下读。这些在中文里可能会被评作“引人入胜”的好词好句，在英语的论文写作里面，可以说是最大的败笔之一。如果你一定要问问题的话，那就改成陈述句式，例如：Whether this issue is right or wrong? 可以改成：It has been a controversial issue that.....

2、避免集中使用"Be"动词，包括is, are, has been, have been, etc.

　　即使GRE考题statement里面有很多"Be"动词，你也要避免照抄，因为statement是浅显地告诉你一个idea，而不是向你展示writing。

例如：What is the purpose of education? Some people may say that the purpose of education should be to create a totally academic environment that separates from the outside world, for, they think, this situation allows students to focus on their academic research work without being disturbed by practical concerns. In fact, this suggestion is harmful to the scientific research work.

　　这是某一篇文章的开头。我们现在只是分析语法问题。作者除了要注意不要使用疑问句以外，还有很重要的一点：总共两三句话，出现4个"Be"动词。这种写法，在英语里面被称作"non-act"的动词。"Be" 仅仅表示一种状态，例如："i am here", "you are there". 对于母语者来说，"Be"动词其实就是写在纸上，而没有任何感情色彩。所以应该尽量避免成篇累牍地使用。我们的例子可以改为：

Some people argue that the purpose of education lies in its strength in creating a totally academic environment separated from the outside world. They think this situation allows students to focus on academic research by excluding outside disturbance³ from practical concerns. However, this suggestion in fact does harm to the scientific research work.

我们可以看到，使用了lie in, exclude, do harm to以后，句子更有色彩了。

3、尽量避免重复使用单词或者词组。特别是近距离集中在某一两句话里使用。

例如：The author argues that to understand one’s own culture, one must know about at least one another culture which is distinctly different from one’s own culture. While as I am concerned, I can’t agree with the author’s assertion.

　　这一个开头，总共两行字，却连续出现了4个One，3个culture。如果你把这段话大声朗读一下，就会觉得别扭、好笑了。连续使用相同的单词或者词组（包括短句），体现的是作者词汇量匮乏，写作风格较差，遣词造句能力不强。给读者的感觉就是昏昏欲睡。

　　很容易的我们就可以改正：The author argues that the knowledge of another distinctly different culture helps us to truly understand our own. However, I disagree with this assertion.

　　这句话把原来的三句分句合成了并无冗长感觉的一句。精简的同时，也恰当地避免了重复多次使用culture，one的问题。用了"this assertion"，也避免了在近距离使用两个"author"。

4、避免使用从句套从句的超长句子。

　　学术性的文章，应当避免追求华丽词藻和句型。作为非母语者，我们在语感上面已经处于劣势。为了避免缺乏语感而造成的很多语法上面、句子结构上面的小失误，我们更应该尽量避免使用长句。看了很多作者的文章，长句造成的后果通常有：单复数混淆，it、that指代不清，从句两头时态不符，连接介词错误，等等。

例如：Things happened in the past, known as history, is great treasure for us huan beings, through and only through studying the past can we gain valuable experience which serves as a means of guiding our development of the society.

　　例子中作者用了3处逗号，而事实上面，从句间关系并非密不可分。我们可以很轻松的分成三句话，作者写得安心，读者读得舒心，做到真正的言必达意。

History consists of the things happened in the past and it is a great treasure to human beings. Through and only through studying the past thoroughly⁴ can we gain valuable experience from history. The historical experience serves as a means of guidance for the new development in the society.