Part2 chapter7-8

Sixshot102

Reader:周艺
Reading Time:5.8-5.11
Reading Task: Part 2 "The Noun Plague" and " Pronouns and Antecedents"
Summary of the Content
The Noun Plague:
     Author points out that overusing nouns is a common issue in Chinglish. Loads of examples show this phenomenon, like turning verbs into noun phrases, making sentences lengthy and obscure (e.g., "the implementation of the plan" vs. "to implement the plan").
     Emphasizes that excessive noun phrases cause complex structures, ambiguous meanings and poor readability. The root is authors' attempt to appear sophisticated by piling up nouns while ignoring the concise English style.

   Pronouns and Antecedents:
     Deals with the relationship between pronouns and antecedents. In Chinglish, there are often unclear pronoun references, such as missing antecedents, multiple possible referents and singular-plural mismatches.
     Examples illustrate the confusion and understanding difficulties caused by these problems. For instance, in "They are studying the subjects that interest them," unclear references of "they" and "them" can puzzle readers.

Evaluation

   Writing Style: The author's style is rigorous yet witty. By contrasting positive and negative examples, readers can intuitively see the differences between Chinglish and authentic English, making it easy to understand.
   Theme and Ideas: The theme focuses on common Chinglish errors, highly targeted and practical. In-depth analysis of noun usage and pronoun reference issues offers learners clear improvement suggestions, helping enhance the accuracy and fluency of English writing.
Reflection
   Inspiration for Personal Life: In daily writing, I also unconsciously fall into the trap of noun abuse. To make writing sound profound, I overuse noun phrases, ignoring conciseness. In the future, I'll pay more attention to this and learn to use simpler verbs or expressions to replace lengthy noun phrases.
   Reflections on Social Issues: From a social perspective, many Chinglish learners have similar problems, reflecting the insufficiency of English logical and habitual cultivation in teaching. Educators should guide students to understand English thinking patterns, not just accumulate vocabulary and grammar.

When filling out this reading note, I used AI tools to help organize key points and examples. I input "the main content, core views and relevant examples of the 'The Noun Plague' and 'Pronouns and Antecedents' chapters in中式英语之鉴" to AI, which generated some preliminary text. I filtered and integrated the key information about the two chapters and combined it with my own understanding and reading insights to modify and supplement the text for accuracy and depth. Here's a screenshot of the AI - generated text (this is an example, and you need to provide real screenshots when using it.
By interacting with AI, I was able to quickly obtain basic information. However, to form my own reading note, I conducted in - depth thinking and recreation on this information, adding my own views and reflections to make it meet my learning needs and thinking depth.

2301晨花鹿

How can the advice given in "The Noun Plague" and "ronouns and Antecedents" sections help writers, especially those who tend to produce Chinglish, to improve the clarity and correctness of their writing?