On Monday, I mentioned that I am currently working on a new short course called “10 Practical Writing Tips.”
In this course, I will share 10 practical techniques that you can apply easily to improve your everyday writing. Although I will be sharing “practical” techniques with you, the course content will still be grounded in the overall structural framework of English grammar that we worked through together in Core Concepts -- because, as you know by now, language is an integrated system, and even higher-level concerns are still just extensions within the same system.
Today, I want to preview one of the “tips” in the course briefly. Over the next few weeks, I will also find opportunities to share some of the others.
I know that, when many students try to improve their English writing in concrete ways, they memorize lists of fixed expressions with specific meanings and functions. In particular, I often see people memorizing lists of expressions that have a “linking” function between sentences or paragraphs, such as “in addition,” “as a result,” “in response,” and so on.
These expressions, of course, have their functions in writing, but the problem with them is often that students understand them at a very superficial level without actively connecting them to their overall knowledge of English.
Many students know roughly what these expressions mean and that they are often moved to the beginning of sentences to connect to previous ideas -- so, when they write, they often mechanically insert them into sentences that they think need “connecting.”
If you can only engage with these fixed expressions in a mechanical way like this -- even if you can use an expression naturally and correctly in a given context, you can still never push your writing to the next level -- because you are not truly trying to understand what these expressions are structurally and semantically, or actively thinking about how they can be adjusted, enriched, and extended according to the needs of the context.
For example, you might write:
The new system will reduce processing time. In addition, it will provide managers with more accurate weekly reports.
There is, of course, nothing wrong with these two sentences. “In addition” is natural here.
However, if you had a deeper understanding of the structure and meaning of this expression,
you would not, in every situation, remain at the level of mechanically adding it to link sentences.
You might go one step further and ask:
Can the specific content of the previous sentence here be brought into this expression in a way that is more fitting for the context?
For example:
The new system will reduce processing time. In addition to improving efficiency, it will also provide managers with more accurate weekly reports.
Here, the connection between sentences is no longer just a mechanical “in addition.” Instead, the content of the previous sentence has been structurally and semantically reorganized into “improving efficiency,” which makes the whole expression more fitting in this context.
If you can do this, you are no longer just using a fixed expression that you memorized. You are, rather, truly understanding its structural characteristics and semantic function, and then actively adjusting and enriching it according to the needs of the context in front of you.
To do this correctly and flexibly in different contexts, you need to have a foundation of overall structural understanding of English. This is precisely the kind of ability I want to help you build.
Productive writing at a higher level does not come from memorizing more “advanced” expressions. It comes from having a clear understanding of the structural and semantic characteristics of different expressions and knowing how they fit within the overall framework.
Only then will you stop merely sticking expressions you have learnt mechanically into memorized situations and actually apply them flexibly to your writing, no matter the context.
This is also the direction of this short course.
What I want to do is not to give you another batch of disconnected “writing tips” to simply be memorized. What I want to do is look at how these so-called “techniques,” once you really have a foundation of structural understanding, can turn into actual and flexible writing ability.
If you would like to be notified as soon as the course is released, and to receive the early-bird discount when it launches, you can leave your details by clicking the button below.
Ms. Charlotte
星期一我提到，我目前正在製作一個新的短課程，名叫「10 Practical Writing Tips」。
在這個課程裡，我會分享 10 個你可以輕鬆運用的實用技巧，幫助你提升日常寫作；但雖然說是「practical」技巧，內容仍然是以我們在《Core Concepts》裡一起梳理出來的英文文法整體結構框架為基礎，因為語言是一個整體系統，就算是更高層次的課題，也一樣在同一個文法系統之中延伸的。
今天想先和大家 preview 一下其中一個貼士，之後幾星期也會再找機會和大家分享另外的。
大家平時為了提升英文寫作，應該都背了不少有特定意思和功能的固定表達方式。我尤其見大家經常會背很多在句子或段落之間有連接意思功能的，例如 「in addition」、「as a result」、「in response」 等等。
這些表達方式本身當然有它們在寫作中的功能。
但很多時候，問題就在於：大家對它們的理解，只停留在一個很表面的、並沒有連接到自己整體英文知識的層次——
大家知道它們大概表達甚麼意思，也知道它們常常可以移到句首去連接前文，
於是寫作時，只要一出現某些特定情況，就機械地把它們插進句子裡。
這樣的話，就算它在那個語境裡是自然的、用得對的，
都不能真正把你的寫作推到更高層次。
因為你仍然只是把這些東西當成固定而機械的表達方式去用，
而不是真正理解它們在結構和意思上究竟是甚麼，
以及它們可以怎樣按語境需要被調整、豐富和延伸。
例如，你寫：
The new system will reduce processing time. In addition, it will provide managers with more accurate weekly reports.
這兩句本身當然完全沒有問題，「in addition」在這裡出現也是自然的。
但如果你對這個表達方式的結構和意思有更深入的理解，
你就不會在任何情況中，都只停留在機械地加一句 「in addition」 這個層次。
你可能會進一步想到：
這裡可不可以把前一句的內容，更貼切地帶進這個表達方式裡，
令它不只是籠統地表達「此外」，
而是更具體地呼應前文正在講的東西？
例如：
The new system will reduce processing time. In addition to improving efficiency, it will also provide managers with more accurate weekly reports.
這裡和前一句之間的連接，就不再只是一個很表面的「此外」。
而是把前一句的內容，在意思上重新整理成 「improving efficiency」 這個更貼合語境的內容，
再將它結合進這個表達方式裡。
換句話說，這時候你不是在用一個背了回來的 fixed expression，而是在真正理解這個表達方式的結構特徵和意思作用之後，按眼前這個語境的需要，主動地調整它、豐富它。
但要正確和靈活地這樣做，也一定要有對英文的整體結構有理解基礎。
而這正正就是我一直想教大家培養的能力。
因為真正有生產力的寫作，不是靠背更多所謂「高級」表達方式。
而是靠你對句子結構、詞組結構、以及不同表達方式的意思特徵，有整體而清楚的理解。
只有這樣，你學過的東西才不會停留在「記住了甚麼情況下可以這樣用」的層次，
而會真正變成你可以靈活運用的語言素材。
這也是這個短課程的方向。
我想做的，不是再給大家一堆可以背下來的 writing tips；
而是想和大家一起看，當你真的有結構理解的基礎之後，
這些所謂的「技巧」可以怎樣變成實際而靈活的寫作能力。
如果你有興趣在課程推出時第一時間收到通知，並在推出時獲得 early-bird discount，可以先按下面留下資料：
Ms. Charlotte