TPS News

Correct best answer: Replace “revolve” with “resolve.”

“X-ray in one hand and coffee cup in the other, the neurological researcher paced round and round the light table with new determination to resolve the mystery.”

The original sentence is doubly confusing because the errant word, “revolve,” seems to agree with the described action, the neurologist pacing “round and round” the table. That is coincidence and sometimes such happenstance can help to unhinge a sentence. Sometimes, in fact, a phrase written earlier in a sentence can distract a tired writer enough to cause him to write in agreement with his distraction. Obviously, this doctor is in search of a resolution, not a revolution. To avoid such thoroughly confusing mistakes is the task of a paper’s proofreader.
原句令人相當不解，是因為用了別字 “revolve”（打轉），句子前半描述神經學家繞著桌子 “round and round”（一圈圈地打轉），此字似乎和這個動作配合一致。這是個巧合，這種巧合有時卻會打亂句子。有時候作者寫累了，會受到句子前半部份影響，分神寫岔了後半的句子。很顯然，句中神經學家要找的是解答 (resolution)，而不是改革 (revolution)。要徹底避免這類令人困擾的錯誤，就有勞審校的功夫了。