英文科技写作L2a.pdfVIP

Scientific Writing and Presentation in English Lecture 2-a: Verbs for Scientific Writing A. Godfrey Tsinghua University, Sep. 2003 Essential Grammar for Scientific Writing: (1) Verbs • Verbs are the words that describe “actions” – go, look, eat, swim – cut, measure, imply, conclude • provide information on – when an action takes place (TENSE) – any continued effect of that action – who/what is the focus of the action (VOICE) Scientific Writing: Lecture 2a #2 1 Verbs: Tense (when the action occurs) • most simple classification – PAST (I swam) – PRESENT (I swim) – FUTURE (I will swim) • also can give an indication, either explicitly or implicitly, that the effect of the action persists Scientific Writing: Lecture 2a #3 Verbs: Voice (who or what is most important) • ACTIVE – We annealed the sample in a nitrogen atmosphere furnace for 10 hours at 1000K. • PASSIVE – The sample was annealed in a nitrogen atmosphere furnace for 10 hours at 1000K. • Choice of active or passive is one of style not grammar – BUT – in most cases the passive is preferred – it shouldn’t matter whether you, me, him or her put the sample in the furnace. What matters is that the sample ends up in the furnace. – will be discussed further later with other “Style” issues Scientific Writing: Lecture 2a #4 2 Choosing the correct tense can help in presenting you new “idea” • allows you to differenti