Chapter 10: Unnecessary Verbs and Modifiers

辣白菜味辣条

1. Identification and correction of verb redundancy:
Chinese is used to use "universal verbs" (such as make, conduct, carry out) with nouns to express actions, while English tends to use strong verbs directly. For example:
"make an improvement" → "improve"
"conduct an investigation" → "investigate"
Weak verbs (such as make, give) tend to mask the core action and need to be simplified to enhance the power of the sentence.
2. Unnecessary modifiers:
Chinese modifiers are commonly used to emphasize degree or scope, while many nouns in English have implicit meanings. For example:
"mutual cooperation" to "cooperation" (the cooperation itself is mutual).
"serious natural disaster" to "natural disaster" (the disaster itself is serious).
Time adverbs (such as now, previously) are often repeated with the verb tense and need to be deleted to simplify the expression.
Reflections：
Verb redundancy and the misuse of modifiers stem from the Chinese characteristic of "emphasizing meaning," where words are often piled up to reinforce semantics. For example, in the phrase "加快经济改革步伐," the literal translation "accelerate the pace of economic reform" with "pace of" is redundant, as "accelerate" already implies "加快步伐." When translating, it is necessary to strip away this redundancy and return to the English expression logic of "simplifying complexity."