Big Picture in SC [总结]

mcleaper06

Meaning:
1.        main claim/hierarchy of importance:
a.        Subordinate clause and paralleled main clause are not interchangeable as the change may affect the major claim. e.g., but/although, change from subordinate clause into paralleled main clause
b.        pay attention to distortion of meanings: or/and, double negation
2.        relationship in meanings:
a.        intent of an action is efficiently expressed by an infinitive or in order to structure, don't mix up with other structures: (after noun)+for doing/ving/that-clause; (after verb)+and
b.        figure out logical, clear and intended causality in the sentence, and then use efficient form to deliver it: firstly, figure out what caused what; secondly, avoid using: parallelism for causality; so..for.. instead of so..that.. as for- already expresses causality, so is awkward and unclear in meaning; because sb. do sth./because of sb's doing, rather than because of sb. doing/because of sth. done by sb.
c.        contrast meaning and contrasting words: firstly, contrast as meaning demands: never make false contrast and never neglect contrast; secondly, select proper words to deliver contrast: but vs. with, whereas vs. while
d.        Chronological order of different actions: esp. in causality, ABC; ving is a logical extension or an accompanying effect of the main verb, and thus cannot be easily changed into relative clause, parallelism, etc.
3.        redundancy:
a.        there be structure emphases state of existence, if such meaning have already be conveyed elsewhere, avoid this choice
b.        both..and also
c.        now/currently, at least/more than
d.        although/yet, other than/the opposite
e.        redundant pronoun in relative clause

Subject and Verb Agreement:
1.        subject and verb must both exist in: main clause, subordinate clause, paralleled sentence and after semicolon
2.        subject and verb must make sense together
3.        subject and verb must agree in number in main and subordinate clauses
4.        run on sentence needs conjunction

Parallelism:
1.        Express several claims in parallelism (WHY DO WE NEED PARALLELISM):
a.        pay attention to the doer of actions
b.        use perfect parallelism to express meanings clearly and efficiently: to make the subject and verb uniform
c.        parallelism may distort the intended meaning as such parallelism never exists!
2.        parallelism must be in idiomatic form (HOW PARALLELISM IS MAINTAINED):
a.        parallelism needs to be idiomatic: not..but, the higher X..the longer Y, not only..but also.., neither..nor..but rather.., both and, the way to do is to do, be-structure
b.        parallelism conjunction is needed
3.        parallelism maintenance (THINGS PARALLELED NEED TO BE GRAMATICALLY PARALLEL):
a.        first remember we can use other parts of the sentence to identify the grammatical format
b.        pay attention to prepositional words/leading words in subordinate clauses/infinitives
c.        verb forms
d.        verb agreement: omit if the same, keep if tense or plurality is changed, avoid if verb form is different!
e.        simple, complex gerund; action and non-action nouns

Pronouns:
1.        Agreement in number (WHAT'S THE PRONOUN REFER TO?)
a.        use the meaning to figure out what's being referred to
b.        single cannot refer to plural, vice versa: it/they, one/ones, that/those
2.        Clear reference:
a.        several possible referents: pay attention to placement, as relative movement in nouns may creates ambiguity; the+noun vs. pronoun, esp. several nouns before
b.        far distance: pronoun cannot be too far away from the referent
c.        reference ambiguity: change the meaning in pronoun, esp. it refers to A then to B; pronoun refer to nouns following prepositional words; placeholder it have incomplete structure
d.        refer to the words after prepositional words
3.        this, these cannot go alone

Modifiers:
1.        Use the descriptions in the modifier to identify what is being modified
2.        Modification is associated with meanings:
a.        with-structure is more versatile in function than ving- or which-. However, when we can express meanings clearly in ving- or which-, we avoid with-
b.        ving or which is not interchangeable: firstly, ving is more closely related to main verb, and which is more independent; secondly, which may restrict meaning
c.        non-restrictive vs. restrictive
3.        Logical predication (modifiers make sense)
a.        dangling modifier/nonsensical modifier: attention in mission critical or 'some-jump' modifier, use SV agreement to figure out what is modified
b.        few/less, much/many
c.        appositive words can explain the entire clause or preceding noun
d.        ving-modifier should express simultaneous action, logical extension or explanation
4.        clear modifier/placement(I think as it involves time, minor point if in lone sentence and therefore prioritize other conspicuous issues, but if in short, consider it at first):
a.         only, prepositional phrase(because they can modify either noun or verb),
b.        -ved(because they can only modify the noun preceding it, if change the place, change the meaning),
c.        number+comparable(we pay 5 a barren more than we did; we pay a barren 5, more than we did)
d.        adverbial phrases clearly placed when there are several verbs

Verb:
1.        verb tense: (Principle: don't change unless justified, following is justification)
a.        indirect quotation changes the verb tense
b.        time indicator/reflection correct timeline
c.        uniformity in parallelism and comparison
2.        verb mood:
a.        hypothetical construction: if..then../words such as "expectation/prediction"
b.        imperative: eliminate should
3.        voice:
if..then..passive/active voice should be the same; nonsensical passive/active

Comparison:
1.        make the right comparison: same with parallelism, use description to figure out comparison
2.        idiomatic construction: more than, like/as, the same…to..
3.        maintenance: helping verbs, prepositional words
4.        redundant comparison: compared to + comparable words

Concision:
1.        Possessive + noun is awkward, esp. in causality
2.        Inversion of the sentence is awkward, esp. in placeholder it
3.        Passive voice is weak and wordy for such voice is hard to deliver the doer of action; often associated with dangling modifier which can help us determine passive or active voice
4.        unit of measurement: the month of celebration, the amount of …
5.        famous awkward construction:
a.        where there be: awkward
b.        because there be: because emphases causality while there be existence
c.        comparable+ adj.+ noun
d.        drive the VAN
e.        be to do: ambiguous

open to criticism~

bejamin1111

貌似是manhattan的总结，不错，相信收获不少！

mcleaper06

bejamin1111 发表于 2013-5-26 15:05
貌似是manhattan的总结，不错，相信收获不少！

yep~
按照自己的思路和OG重新理了一遍。算是实战版~