托福写作备考高分技巧揭秘(一)
作为一种语言测试方式, 托福考试的重点是检测考生的英语语言水平,如何写出正确流畅的语言是得到托福写作单项高分的必备条件。那么如何才能得到阅读高分呢?下面新东方在线李盛老师给大家揭秘托福独立写作的高分技巧。
在TOEFL iBT Official Guide(托福官方指南,以下简称OG)中明确指出托福独立写作有三大考查维度:Development(展开论点),Organization(组织文章结构)和Language Use(语言运用)。因此,除了注意作文的内容和结构外,阅卷老师同样十分注重我们在作文中表现出来的语言基本功。
托福独立写作部分对于我们写作的总体要求是consistent facility in the use of language(语言运用的和谐流畅),给我们的具体建议是a variety of sentence structures(句子结构多样)和word choice should be appropriate(措辞贴切得体),评分者的审查角度是lexical or grammar errors(词汇和语法错误)以及the complexity of sentence structures(句子结构的复杂程度)和the quality and complexity of your vocabulary(考生所使用的词汇的质量和复杂程度)。接下来李盛老师分别先从语法错误、措辞和句子结构三个方面来探讨备考过程中应该注意的事项:
首先是lexical or grammar errors:
任何一种语言考试都强调语言表达的准确性,在2010年1月之后,ETS在独立写作部分中加入了e-rater的评分模式。电脑系统评分无疑对考生的语法词汇表达的正确性提出了更高的要求。在2009年1月份ETS发布的Evaluating the Construct -Coverage of the e-rater? Scoring Engine中,明确指出e-Rater会关注的四大语言层面:Grammar(Proofread this, Ill-formed Verbs, Pronoun Errors, Possessive Errors, Wrong or Missing Words, Sentence Structure包括:Fragments, Run-ons, Garbled Sentences, Subject-verb agreement), Usage(Article Errors, Confused Words, Incorrect Word Forms, Faulty Comparisons, Nonstandard verbs or word forms), Mechanics(Spelling, Capitalization包括Proper Nouns和Sentence-Initial, Punctuation包括Missing Question Marks, Missing Final Punctuation, Missing Comma or Apostrophe和Hyphen Error, Fused Words, Compound Words, Duplicated Words)和Style(Repetition of Words, Inappropriate Words or Phrases, Too Many Sentences Beginning with Conjunction, Too Many Short Sentences, Too Many Long Sentences, Passive Voice),换句话说,我们要在独立写作中避免出现以上的常见的语言表达错误,这就需要同学们在平时练习中注意语法的积累。在这里简单列举同学们在写作句子层面上经常犯的错误:
(1)粘连句(Run-ons sentence)
Run-ons sentence指一句话中包含两个或更多的意思,但这些意思之间没有用恰当的标点符号或缺乏连接词等分隔开,这往往由于写作者不熟悉英语语法表达导致。如:
Students deserve more respect they are young adults.
I met an old man was standing by the street.
正确的表达可以是:
Students deserve more respect when/although they are young adults.
I met an old man who was standing by the street.
(2)逗号连接句(Comma splice)
Comma splice指用逗号连接两个分句。在英语中,逗号只能表示语气上的短暂停顿,不能表示两个分句间的逻辑关系,如果一句话中有几个分句,就常常使用连接词。如:
We are out of money, we decide not to eat out on the weekend.
正确的表达可以是:
We are out of money, so we decide not to eat out on the weekend.
(3)不完整句(Sentence fragment)
Sentence fragment指那些看似一句话,但实际上只是一个句子的一部分结构,往往缺少主语、谓语等基本结构,或是只有从句没有主句。如:
Driving in the city during the evening rush hour.
Many people do not like living in big cities. Because the life is too busy there.
正确的表达可以是:
Driving in the city during the evening rush hour is dangerous.
Many people do not like living in big cities, because the life is too busy there.
(4)修饰语位置错误(Misplaced modifier)
Misplaced modifier指的是被放错了位置的修饰语,这种句子不仅会拗口,而且可能引起歧义。如:
At the age of five, my father started to teach me piano.
He wants to quickly and easily finish the job.
正确的表达可以是:
My father started to teach me piano when I was five.
He wants to finish the job quickly and easily.
(5)并列结构错误(Faulty parallelism)
Faulty parallelism指的是在并列结构中所使用的语法结构不一致。如:
People should be judged not only by their words, but also by what they do.
正确的表达可以是:
People should be judged not only by their words, but also by their deeds.
(6)主从句错误(Faulty subordination)
Faulty subordination 指的是本该放在主句中的内容放到了从句中,从而使本该收到强调的内容并没有受到强调。这种错误对表达的准确性上有很大的影响,但很多学生并没有意识到这个问题,这在thesis statement和主题句中尤为重要。如,在讨论面试的问题时,如果我们把thesis statement写成Interview, which can benefit the modern society a lot, is becoming increasingly popular,很明显就没有强调应该强调的内容。这句话应该写成:Interview, which is becoming increasingly popular, can benefit the modern society a lot.
(编辑:马菲)