美国老员工常犯十大语法错误

在未来几十年里，世界上传播最广泛的新闻、最先进的思想、最高深的技术、最集中的知识分子的交流，大多数都将试用英语。如果你不想做一个与国际思想脱节的人，学英语是非常必要的。例如在软件行业，不但编程的语言是基于英语，更重要的一些课本、文献、参考书、用户手册等都是试用英语的。此外，学英语决不是崇洋。中国正走向世界，中国需要学习西方的先进思想和科学技术，学好英语才能扩大交流，从这个意义上来说，学英语是爱国的表现。很多中国职工在英语考试中的成绩不错，可是到美国上课却几乎都听不懂，和外国同学交流就更加困难了。如何把英语学好呢？既然英语是重要的工具，那学习的方法就要尽量与工具的试用相结合，不能只“学”不“用”，更不能只用背诵的方式。读书时尽量看原版的专业课本——如果英语不够好，那就从汉英对照的书看起，适当地看一些你所感兴趣的专业领域论文，这样可以同时提高英语能力和增加相关领域的知识。不要把学英语当作苦差事，可以用有趣的方式去学习，例如看一些名人对话或小说、剧本、甚至漫画，以自发的方式记住很多习惯用法和有意思的表达方法。同时，为了提高英语的听说能力，最好的方法就是与那些来自英语为母语国家的外国人对话，现在很多地方都有不少在中国学习和工作的外国人，他们中有些为学中文，也会积极主动地寻找中国员工对话练习，这是很好的机会。
 

本文原文来自美国一所大学的英语讲师，内容则是(美国老员工常犯的十大语法错误top ten grammar problems)。美国老员工常犯的这些错误，我们自己是否也常犯。在下面的十组例句中，第一句是病句，第二句则是改正过来的句子。
　　一、句子之间缺少过渡性的单词或词组

　　① Salmons swim upstream, they leap over huge dams to reach their destination.

　　② Salmons swim upstream, and then they leap over huge dams to reach their destination.

　　二、省字号(')的滥用

　　① the government's plan

　　② the plan of the government

　　三、代词之间的性、数、格不一致

　　① Everyone has their homework.

　　② Everyone has his (or her) homework.

　　四、主句与从句的顺序不当

　　① Some of the new dot-com millionaires found out the party was over, after the NASDAQ value dropped by over two thirds.

　　② After the NASDAQ value dropped by over two thirds, some of the new dot-com millionaires found out the party was over.

　　五、双重否定

　　① Barely no one noticed that the pop star lip-synched during the whole performance.

　　② Barely anyone noticed that the pop star lip-synched during the whole performance.

　　六、修饰语、插入语的位置不当

　　① The forest fire, no longer held in check by the exhausted firefighters, jumped the firebreak.

　　② No longer held in check by the exhausted firefighters, the forest fire jumped the firebreak.

　　七、意义含糊的先行词

　　① The band members collected his and her uniforms.

　　② The band members collected their uniforms.

　　八、介词和冠词的滥用

　　① The project of the government reduces the costs of production of the private firms.

　　② The government project reduces the production costs of private firms.

　　九、句子缺少成分

　　① When aiming for the highest returns, and also thinking about the possible losses.

　　② When aiming for the highest returns, investors also should think about the possible losses.

　　十、忘记断句

　　① I do not recall what kind of printer it was all I remember is that it could sort, staple, and print a packet at the same time.

　　② I do not recall what kind of printer it was. All I remember is that it could sort, staple, and print a packet at the same time.