1/3 TPS Spot the Error Contest-Answer and Explanation 你是挑錯的高手嗎? 正確解答

2011-01-04
Answer: “to give” should be “giving.”

“The ecological system in the park is largely in balance, giving more strength to the proposition that human intrusion inhibits natural diversity.”

Error: The writer of this sentence got off track in the course of tacking on a second phrase. Parallel construction in grammar requires that individual sentence components stay in sync; when in doubt, a safer choice is to break a sentence with two thoughts into two sentences. In this case, the writer uses “to give” when the correct word choice is “giving.” Or the writer might have written a second sentence beginning, “The park’s balance gives…” This writing mistake is No. 10 of 10 Common Writing Errors That Can Spell “Rejection” for Your Manuscript, which are posted elsewhere on The Published Scholar site.
錯誤之處:這句話的作者在第一句與第二句的接軌上沒有使用正確的用詞。文法中的平行結構必須是一個獨立句子中保持句構的同步與平行規範,最安全的方式,是將一個句子分開成為兩個獨立想法的句子。因此這次的題目,正確答案應使用"giving" ,而不是 “to give。另一個寫法是,作者可為第二句重新起頭,如 “The park’s balance gives…”。這樣的寫作錯誤可參照本專頁所張貼之「10 個導致退稿的常見寫作錯誤之十:“Avoid Faulty Parallelism”」

Last Update at 2012-04-06 AM 10:32 | 0 Comments

1/3 TPS Spot the Error Contest-Win Your NTD200 7-11/Starbucks Prize! 你是挑錯的高手嗎? 有機會獲得200元統一超商/星巴克咖啡禮券!

2011-01-03
下列的句子中,包含了一個錯誤,可能是文法、拼法或是標點符號的錯誤。我們將提供"統一超商/星巴克咖啡NTD200元禮券",給予今天前三名挑出正確錯誤、寫出正確答案的粉絲。正確的解答與獲獎的粉絲姓名,將於明天公佈於本TPS的專頁。請將你的答案寫在下方,獲得免費購物禮券的幸運兒可能就是你哦!
The sentence below contains one (1) grammatical, spelling and/or punctuation error. The three (3) TPS Fans to respond with the corrected sentence will win a NTD200 Starbucks Gift Certificate. The corrected sentence and the name of the winner will be published tomorrow on this TPS Fan Page. Please post your answers below. Good Luck!

題目Contest Sentence:

“The ecological system in the park is largely in balance, to give more strength to the proposition that human intrusion inhibits natural diversity.”


Last Update at 2012-09-13 PM 4:59 | 0 Comments

What does that mean? 你真的瞭解這個慣用語嗎?

2010-12-29
Imagery buries itself in language and takes on new meaning. The transplanted and transformed sets of words are called “figures of speech.” For a figure of speech to be effective, however, a writer must first understand the original meaning of the phrase. The following sentence contains a common figure of speech. Its original meaning is explained.
很多字詞並非表面所見的意思,字詞的組合會產生不同的解釋。這樣的慣用法,我們稱之為「比喻」。一個成功的比喻,作者本身必須相當瞭解字詞的源起。以下的句子為讀者介紹一個比喻及其來源。

“Avicenna’s pioneering work in neuropsychiatry was the dawn of understanding about the linkage between body and mind.”
亞維塞那在神經精神病學的創舉,猶如曙光乍現般清楚說明身體與心靈間的關連。

“Dawn of understanding” alludes to the early morning hour when the sun rises above the horizon. The ability for us to see a greater distance rather suddenly returns when the darkness of night is replaced by daylight.
「曙光般清楚(Dawn of understanding)」暗指清晨當太陽初昇至水平線上,黑夜完全被陽光取代,我們才得以見到不同於黑夜的耀眼光亮。

As used in an academic paper about one of Persia’s notable thinkers, the figure of speech denotes enlightenment. That is, connections between our psychological and physiological conditions were beginning to be seen for the first time. As the “sunshine of scholarship” continued, more and more relationships between the mind and the body were discovered.
此慣用語是來自於波斯一名偉大的思想家,在學術文章的應用上,比喻為「教化、啟蒙」。也就是說,連結生理與心理間交互影響源自於這個時期開始發展。繼“陽光論”後,更多心靈與身體間的相互關係相繼被探究出來。

Last Update at 2012-04-06 AM 10:33 | 0 Comments

12/27 TPS Spot the Error Contest-Answer and Explanation 你是挑錯的高手嗎? 正確解答

2010-12-28
Answer: “amount” should be “number.”

The 'number' of historians who write at length about the cruelty of Chinggis Khaan is large compared to those who dwell on Khan’s religious tolerance.
有別於描述成吉思汗的宗教自由與包容面,史學家們描述其殘暴行徑者居多。


Error: The sentence contained only one true error. The writer misused the indefinite pronoun 'amount', which is reserved for describing a portion of a whole, such as amount of rain that fell, amount of money in the bank. The correct choice—number—is used when individual units are being counted, such as number of people in the car, number of coins in the purse. This writing mistake is No. 1 of 10 Common Writing Errors That Can Spell “Rejection” for Your Manuscript, which are posted elsewhere on The Published Scholar site.
錯誤之處:這句話僅有一個主要的錯誤。作者錯誤使用不可數代名詞amount,它是用來描述某數量的一部分,如降落的雨,銀行裡的錢等等。正確的是number,用在可數的個別單位,如車裡的人,皮包裡的錢幣等等。這樣的寫作錯誤可參照本專頁所張貼之「10 個導致退稿的常見寫作錯誤之一:“Know Your Numbers”」。

Some interesting corrections were suggested for this sentence. Unfortunately, the suggestions either muddied the sentence or rendered it a non-sentence. However, several respondents correctly noted that Khaan was spelled two ways (also Khan). While we should have been more careful not to use two spelling variations, neither spelling actually is incorrect, depending upon the cited source.
這個題目有粉絲提出了其它的修正。但是,這些建議可能會混淆了句意或是使得句構不完整。然而,許多的粉絲有發現Khaan有兩個拼音方式,另一個為Khan,當然我們應更加謹慎對於同一句子中應使用同一種拼法,事實上,使用那一個字都可以,取決於取材的來源句子為何。

The winners of this week's prize are Evan Tsai, Welson Xiong, and Pin-Jen Chen.
Thanks for everyone's participation in this week's Spot the Error Contest, it's been fun!

這次獲獎的的粉絲為Evan Tsai, Welson Xiong, and Pin-Jen Chen。
謝謝所有粉絲們參與本周的「你是挑錯的高手嗎?」活動,將實用、有意義的知識和大家交流與分享。


TPS Editorial Team

Last Update at 2012-04-06 AM 10:33 | 0 Comments

12/27 TPS Spot the Error Contest-Win Your NTD200 7-11/Starbucks Prize! 你是挑錯的高手嗎? 有機會獲得200元統一超商/星巴克咖啡禮券!

2010-12-27
下列的句子中,包含了一個錯誤,可能是文法、拼法或是標點符號的錯誤。我們將提供統一超商/星巴克咖啡NTD200元的購物禮券,給予今天前三名挑出正確錯誤、寫出正確答案的粉絲。正確的解答與獲獎的粉絲姓名,將於明天公佈於本TPS的專頁。請將你的答案寫在下方,獲得免費購物禮券的幸運兒可能就是你哦!
The sentence below contains one (1) grammatical, spelling and/or punctuation error. The three (3) TPS Fans to respond with the corrected sentence will win a NTD200 Starbucks Gift Certificate. The corrected sentence and the name of the winner will be published tomorrow on this TPS Fan Page. Please post your answers below. Good Luck!

題目Contest Sentence:

“The amount of historians who write at length about the cruelty of Chinggis Khaan is large compared to those who dwell on Khan’s religious tolerance.”


欲參加活動者,歡迎上TPS Facebook專頁踴躍參加。


Last Update at 2012-09-14 AM 11:08 | 6 Comments

12/20 TPS Spot the Error Contest-Answer and Explanation 你是挑錯的高手嗎? 正確解答

2010-12-21
Answer: “effect” should be “affect.”

To determine how much the writings of Niccolo Machiavelli still affect political discussions, one need only count the number of citations of The Prince.
欲得知馬基維利(Niccolo Machiavelli)的評論是如何影響當代的君主政治,只需細數他的名作君王論(The Prince)一書中受到後代傳頌的次數便可知曉其重要性。

Error: The writer of this sentence has confused similar sounding words, affect and effect. The correct choice—affect—is a verb, whereas effect usually is a noun. This writing mistake is No. 9 of 10 Common Writing Errors That Can Spell “Rejection” for Your Manuscript, which are posted elsewhere on The Published Scholar site.
錯誤之處:這句話的作者在affect 與effect類似發音字詞的使用上產生混淆。
正確的解答affect是動詞,而effect則多以名詞呈現。這樣的寫作錯誤可參照本專頁所張貼之「10 個導致退稿的常見寫作錯誤之九:“Affect” Is Not the Same as “Effect”」。

Some respondents suggested "one needs only" as a correction. The confusion lies partly in the word "need." When a negative or restrictive, such as "only," is paired with it, the "s" is dropped. So it is tricky. One can find a sentence like this (substitute "he" for "one" if it helps clarity): "Once one finds the road, one need only stay on it." If the infinitive "to" is added, the complexion of the sentence changes to this: "Once one finds the road, one only needs to stay on it."
昨日的題目中,粉絲們挑出的其中一個錯誤為"one needs only"。其實,主要的關鍵在於"need"這個字。當句子呈現否定句型或是限制型句型,如本題目中的 "only"與"need"搭配在一起,就不加"s"。這是個相當細微的用法。請看下列的例句(可試試用"he"代替句中的"one"):"Once one finds the road, one need only stay on it."(當找到未來方向之後,唯一要做的就是堅持下去。) 假如加入了不定詞"to",這個句型的結構則改為:"Once one finds the road, one only needs to stay on it."

I'll share a trick for comparing how common different usages are among professional writers.
This is not 100% accurate in determining which usage is "correct," since even professional writers and editors make mistakes, but it is a useful guide.
在此分享一個技巧,身為專業作者,如何針對不同的習慣用法進行比較。
這並非是100%準確的斷定那個用法為”正確”,但有的時候連專業的作家與編輯都也不免失誤,所以這的確是一個相當實用的技巧。

First, go to Google and type in the phrase you want to check on, e.g. "one need only".
Next, type in the name of the site you'd like to check. The New York Times is a carefully edited publication, and so I often scan their website archives by typing site:nytimes.com
首先,上Google搜尋,並將想查詢的字串鍵入,如:"one need only"。
再者,將你想查詢的網址鍵入。在此建議的是New York Times (nytimes.com),它的文章編輯技巧堪稱非常嚴謹,所以我們推薦參閱他們的網站。

Here are the Google results for four different variations:
以下是在Google鍵入不同字串的搜尋結果:

"one need only" site:nytimes.com
47,700 results

"one needs only" site:nytimes.com
3,910 results

"one need only to" site.nytimes.com
4,580 results

"one needs only to" site:nytimes.com
2,360 results

Thus, the editorial consensus at the NYT seems support the grammatically correct choice.
因此,在New York Times的編輯共識中,的確提出實際的證明,支持此次題目中文法使用的正確性。

The winners of this week's prize are Yifan Lee, Welson Xiong, and Jocelyn Tsai.
A bonus prize goes to Pin-Jen Chen for her explanation of how "effect" could also be interpreted as a correct answer, if used in its relatively rare use as a verb meaning "to bring about."
這次獲獎的的粉絲為Yifan Lee, Welson Xiong, and Jocelyn Tsai。
而特別獎頒發給Pin-Jen Chen,在effect亦可作為正確答案方面,感謝她提供了詳細的說明。effect作動詞使用較為罕見,指"帶來某些效益、實現某事"的意思。

Thanks for everyone's participation in this week's Spot the Error Contest, it's been fun!
謝謝所有粉絲們參與本周的「你是挑錯的高手嗎?」活動,將實用、有意義的知識和大家交流與分享。


TPS Editorial Team


Last Update at 2012-04-06 AM 10:33 | 0 Comments

12/20 TPS Spot the Error Contest-Three Lucky Winners 你是挑錯的高手嗎? 獲獎粉絲名單!

2010-12-21
Congratulations to the 3 winners!

The winners are:
Yifan Lee
Welson Xiong
Jocelyn Cheng

Bonus prize goes to:
Pin-Jen Chen
Yifan, Welson, Jocelyn, and Pin-Jen, please send your name, E-mail, mailing address, and telephone number to info@publishedscholar.com, or visit our CONTACT TPS page on the TPS website at http://www.publishedscholar.com/about/survey.signup.php?survey_sn=4 We will send the NTD200 gift certificate to you within three days. Your personal information will only be used for sending the gift certificate to you.

Let's give our big applause for the three winning TPS fans!
Would you like to be one of them? Look for the next「TPS Spot the Error Contest」coming soon! Join us and good luck!


TPS Team


恭禧此次競賽答對獲獎的粉絲們!

請將您的姓名、E-mail、住址、電話寄送到本公司Email info@publishedscholar.com 或逕上http://www.publishedscholar.com/about/survey.signup.php?survey_sn=4 聯絡TPS,我們將於收到資料後三個工作天內將獎品寄出給您。以上粉絲的個人資訊僅供寄送獎品使用,絕不對外公開,敬請放心。

再次恭禧獲獎的TPS粉絲們。
別忘了下周還有「你是挑錯的高手嗎?」活動,敬請大家踴躍參加!


TPS團隊


Last Update at 2012-04-06 AM 10:36 | 0 Comments

12/20 TPS Spot the Error Contest-Win Your NTD200 7-11/Starbucks Prize! 你是挑錯的高手嗎? 有機會獲得價值200元統一超商/星巴克咖啡禮券!

2010-12-20
下列的句子中,包含了一個錯誤,可能是文法、拼法或是標點符號的錯誤。我們將提供統一超商/星巴克咖啡面值NTD200元的購物禮券,給予今天前三名挑出正確錯誤、寫出正確答案的粉絲。正確的解答與獲獎的粉絲姓名,將於明天公佈於本TPS的專頁。請將你的答案寫在下方,獲得免費購物禮券的幸運兒可能就是你哦!

The sentence below contains one (1) grammatical, spelling and/or punctuation error. The three (3) TPS Fans to respond with the corrected sentence will win a NTD200 Starbucks Gift Certificate. The corrected sentence and the name of the winner will be published tomorrow on this TPS Fan Page. Please post your answers below. Good Luck!


題目Contest Sentence:


To determine how much the writings of Niccolo Machiavelli still effect political discussions, one need only count the number of citations of The Prince.

欲參加活動者,歡迎上TPS Facebook專頁踴躍參加。

Last Update at 2012-04-06 AM 10:37 | 0 Comments

What does that mean? 你真的瞭解這個慣用語嗎?

2010-12-20
很多字詞並非表面所見的意思,字詞的組合會產生不同的解釋。這樣的慣用法,我們稱之為「比喻」。一個成功的比喻,作者本身必須相當瞭解字詞的源起。以下的句子為讀者介紹一個比喻及其來源。
Imagery buries itself in language and takes on new meaning. The resulting phrases are often called “figures of speech.” For a figure of speech to be effective, however, a writer must first understand the original meaning of the phrase. The following sentence contains a common figure of speech, followed by an explanation of its origin:

「Reynolds早期文學評論,在所有年輕作家認知上,是沒有幫助的。」
“Critics of Reynolds’ early literature found themselves swimming against the tide of support for everything the young writer conceived.”

「逆潮流而動、有違常理(Swimming against the tide) 」在此舉例中是指在順流的潮水中卻以反方向游去,暗指在長期的爭戰中身體的不堪負荷。水流的流動只向著一個方向,將阻礙了游泳者往反方向行進。
Swimming against the tide alludes to the physical difficulty of battling a resisting force, in this case, swimming in the opposite direction of the flow of tidewater. The movement of the entire body of water in one direction can hinder a swimmer’s movement through the water in the opposite direction.

在學術文章的文學應用上,此慣用語比喻為「徒勞無功、浪費氣力」。也就是說,作者的評論對作家普遍支持的聲浪沒有影響。這樣的評論是無法獲得成效的。
As used in an academic paper about a literary phenomenon, the figure of speech denotes futility. That is, the critics of the writer were described as making no headway against the public support enjoyed by the writer. Their criticism was ineffectual.



Last Update at 2012-04-06 AM 10:37 | 0 Comments

你是挑錯的高手嗎? 有機會獲得價值200元統一超商/星巴克咖啡禮券!

2010-12-14

TPS Spot the Error Contest-Win your NTD200 Prize!

你是挑錯的高手嗎?  有機會獲得200元統一超商/星巴克咖啡禮券!


*本活動已於12月13日結束,獲獎的粉絲已公佈於Facebook 官網上,歡迎上TPS Facebook專頁查詢。

Let's give our big applause for the three winning TPS fans!
Would you like to be one of them? Look for the next「TPS Spot the Error Contest」coming soon! Join us and good luck!

再次恭禧獲獎的TPS粉絲。
別忘了下周還有「你是挑錯的高手嗎?」活動,敬請大家踴躍參加!

Last Update at 2012-04-06 AM 10:37 | 0 Comments