原创 王参谋 王琼工作室 输出的力量
商务英语写作:攻克敌人 下篇
笔胜于剑,落笔无悔:点开商务英语写作的金手指。大家好,我是王参谋。今天我想分享高效商务英语写作的第五个窍门——攻克商务英语写作中的敌人:下篇。
十个敌人(7-10)
Enemy #7 Pronoun Faults
代词使用错误
英语代词的作用是指代名词,尤其是前面出现过的名词。使用代词可以令语域更加宽广丰富,避免重复。
➀No one knows his/her own future.
在本句中,当我们不知道主语的性别的时候,稳妥而正确的用法是his/her
➁Anyone can make it if she/he tries.
现在的商务英语强调避免歧视,所以男女都应该包括。
➂Each of us should write on his/her own.
➃Everyone should mind his/her own business.
➄The rich cannot buy their way to happiness.
(their, his, his/her)
➅Either Mr. Wang or Ms. Zhou can take her holiday next week.
(his, her, their)
➆Neither the director of the security nor the guards admit their mistake.
(his, their)
➇Tom, with his whole family, is going to visit his summer cottage.
(his, their)
⑨I’ve talked to the school publishing house and it is/they are interested in my book.
(it is, they are)
Enemy #8 Rules for Spelling Numbers
数字拼写规则
商务英语写作中要注意数字的写法,以下的规则中应特别注意第2、3条,其他几条仅供参考,基本都是非常正式的商业英语写作中建议的写法,可能会被认为过度正式。
➀Numbers less than a hundred should be spelled out.
➁Numbers at the beginning of a sentence must be spelled out.
➂Two numbers following each other must be spelled out one of them.
➃Ordinal numbers must be spelled out.
➄Hours without minutes must be spelled out.
➅Fractions must be spelled out unless in tables and graphics.
Exercise:
➀There are 以下两者均可 copies.
(89 / eighty-nine)
➁ One hundred and twenty-three employees attended the meeting.
(123/ One hundred and twenty-three)
一般阿拉伯数字尽量不要放在开头,避免和前面的信息粘连,引发误解。
➂I’d like thirty 20-bottle boxes.
(30 20-bottle, thirty 20-bottle)
两个数字相邻,其中一个表示量词,那么应该将其中一个数字拼写出来,避免误解。
➃Welcome to ’ 以下两者均可 anniversary celebration.
(20th, twentieth)
➄There are ten 5-digit numbers in this line.
(10, ten)
Enemy #9 Capitalization
大写
➀Proper names, titles, positions:
✎US President Bill Clinton, Prime Minister Tony Blair, Professor Wang, Dr. King, the Production Department, R&D...
➁Languages, races and ethnic groups:
✎Chinese, English, American English, British English, French, the Black, the Asians, the Africans, the Arabs...
➂Geographical names and terms:
✎New York, London, Beijing, The Great Wall, the Wall Street, the Broadway…
➃Sums of money in legal documents:
✎Two thousand three hundred and sixty US Dollars
➄Book titles and news headings:
✎War and Peace, A Handbook of Business Writing, Just Do It! (Nike) The Star War
➅Prepositions or pronouns of three or fewer letters are not capitalized unless they begin the title:
✎A Trip Report to Shanghai About the Joint Venture Negotiation
✎Alice in Wonderland
Enemy #10 Punctuation, tense, tone and style
标点符号、时态、语气和风格
标点符号:
✎Commas: to separate items in a series
to separate main clauses joined by conjunctions
to separate parenthetical expressions
to separate interjections
逗号:切分意群,表示停顿;用在并列的一系列事物;用在直接引语中;用以划分主句和从句;表示插入成分等等。
✎Semicolons: to separate clauses:
分号:用于分开从句。
✎Colons: to introduce a list, long quotation or speech
冒号:表示罗列一个清单,较长的引语或者讲话内容。
✎Quotation marks: to quote someone’s words from a book
引号:表示引用的话语。
✎Apostrophes: to show possession with nouns
所有格号:表示名词所属的对象,Joanna’s book, David’s car, etc.
时态:
Altogether, there are sixteen tenses in English language and we should understand the nuance in between.
此外,英语有十六个时态,以动词形态变化、助动词等的变化表示,而中文没有时态的变化,都是通过时间状语表达事情发生的时间。
➀We discussed at yesterday’s meeting that we would launch the new sales promotion soon.
➁At 3 p.m. next Monday afternoon, we will be holding business negotiations with our counterpart from Swiss.
➂We have been working on the plan for three years and it goes on pretty well.
举例来看:
➀Grammar is another problem for me. So I thought maybe I could study some writing format in business.
➁We discussed that we will create more Industrial architectures
➂I told you tomorrow she has come to visit.
➃Our R&D center had innovated the system.
语气和风格:
The proper tone and style in business writing.
商务英语写作中应该注意得体而有效的风格。
➀Be formal or semi-formal but business appropriate.
表达正式或者比较正式,符合商务氛围。
➁Be polite.
礼貌,谦和,有理有力有节。
➂Be calm.
风格稳健。
➃Try to avoid jargons.
尽量避免太多的术语或者行话,以及缩写。
➄Try to sound constructive and positive.
语气表达应该积极正向,以解决问题为主而不是指责或者推诿。
➅Try to build up efficiency and effectiveness.
多以效率和效果衡量写作的质量。
➆Use “we” instead of “I” .
在可能的场合下,多用“ we”或者“you”, 转成读者视角,而不是只用“I”——我觉得,我认为应该如何如何……
举例来看:
➀You don’t contact often.
指责别人,也会受到别人的反驳。
➁Pls resp. asap.
对上级,对外部读者不鼓励用此类的缩写,不够正式尊重。
➂I wrote you a request letter on 02/03/12
时间的写法不够清楚:是02年3月12日?是12年2月3日?还是12年3月2日?
凡是给读者造成阅读麻烦的都应该由作者进行调整。
弗朗西斯·培根曾说:
“Writing makes an exact man.”
写作使人精准。
我希望通过学习并攻克这十个商务英语写作中的敌人,使大家的写作干净而高效,专业而炼达,成为职场交流的高手。
笔胜于剑,落笔无悔,让我们成就指尖上的写作!祝你成功。
王参谋
你经常面对哪一个英语写作的“敌人”?,欢迎与我们分享。