英語寫作的基本要素
(一)基本要素：詞、句、段
1.選詞
選詞的標準是，所選詞語意義清晰、準確達意、形象生動、語法準確，并符合語言習慣。
下面是一些用詞不當的例句：
1)The meeting was shut off when the chairman fell ill. shut off停止(供應煤、水、汽油等)，應改為cut short (中斷)。
2)When he was at school, he won first reward for good behavior.此句中用reward(酬勞)詞不達意，應改為prize(獎勵，獎金)。
3)He is as strong as a cow.按照英語的習慣表達法，此處cow應改為horse或lion。
2.造句
“千里之行，始于足下”。無論是世界名著還是小學生作文，都是由句子組成。要做好短文寫作，也必須從句子開始，狠下功夫，不斷練習。要寫好單句，必須使所寫的句子具備下列特點。
(1)完整(Unity)
句子的完整性包括兩個方面，即意思的完整性和結構的完整性。
意思的完整性是指一個句子應該表達一個相對完整的思想。
結構的完整性指的是句子在語法結構方面沒有缺損。如：
It is incredible to many people. Cigarette smokers spend money for illness.
原句中it的意思不明確。可用it作形式主語，使句子結構完整。即：
It is incredible to many people that cigarette smokers spend money for illness.
為了使句子保持結構完整，還要注意避免融合句(Runtogether Sentence)，所謂融合句，就是兩個或兩個以上的句子之間沒有適當的標點符號或連詞而融合在一起。如：
I do not care for any more fruit, I have had enough.
可改成：I do not care for any more fruit, for I have had enough.
(2)連貫(Coherence)
句子的連貫性包括兩點，即句子各部分之間意義上的連貫和結構上的連貫。如：
1)She told my sister that shewas wrong.
句中代詞she所指意思模棱兩可，可用：“You are wrong,”she said to mysister.
2)On squeezing on to the bus, my wallet was lost.動名詞的邏輯主語與句子主語不一致，可改成：On squeezing on to the bus, I lost my wallet.
(3)清晰(Clarity)
句子的清晰度包含以下四點：句子的主要意思突出;修飾語運用正確;修飾語位置適當;標點符號正確。如：
1)They were just turning the corner, when they heard the noise of a shot.
該句主要意思不突出，句子要表達的主要信息應放在復合句的主句中，所以這一句可改成：They heard the noise of a shot, just as they were turning the corner.
2)I have interesting something to tell you.
該句修飾語位置不對，可改成：I have something interesting to tell you.
3.組段
(1)段落和段落的組成
段落(Paragraph)是擴展中心思想的一組意義密切相關的句子。它本身是一個單元(Unit)，同時又是文章的基本部分。
段落一般由三部分組成：主題句(Topic Sentence),擴展句(Development Sentence)和結論句(Concluding Sentence)。
主題句點出段落主旨，各段落的主題句構成一篇文章的骨架，闡述全文的中心思想(Central Idea)，擴展句說明主題句或為主題句提供論證，結論句總結、歸納或概括主題句所點出的主旨。
碩士研究生英語入學考試大綱規定，考生應在40分鐘內寫出一篇200詞的短文。如果短文由3-4段組成，那每段也只有50詞左右。所以一般說來，每段只要有4-5句就夠了。考生如按主題句、擴展句、結論句的數量比例適當安排行文，要寫成段落也就不難了。
(2)過渡詞
過渡詞(Transitional Words)是一種關系指引詞，是連接句子與句子、段落與段落的紐帶。過渡詞一般由副詞或起副詞作用的短語承擔。此外，代詞、連詞、上下文的近義詞等也可作過渡詞。過渡詞能使文章啟、承、轉、合，融會貫通，連成一體。
過渡詞的分類根據過渡詞在文章中的作用，大致可分四類：
1)用于“啟”的過渡詞語
first, first of all, at first, in the first place, firstly, to being with, to start with, recently, now, at present, in recent years, and so on.
2)用于“承”的過渡詞語
second, similarly, in addition, besides, then, furthermore, moreover, what is more, what is worse, for example, for instance, certainly, surely, obviously, in other words, especially, particularly, in particular, indeed, still, third, truly, in fact, in plain terms, for the most part(基本上)，at the same time, no doubt，and so on.
3)用于“轉”的過渡詞語
however, on the other hand, on the contrary, in contrast, in any case, at any rate(無論如何)，conversely(相反地)，nevertheless(雖然如此)，otherwise, or, or else, while...,whereas..., but, despite..., in spite of ..., yet, instead，and so on.
4)用于“合”的過渡詞語：
consequently, as a consequence, therefore, as a result, above all, thus，after all(畢竟)，generally speaking, in general, finally, at last, eventually, hence, inshort(總之)，in conclusion, in a word(總之，簡言之)，in sum(總之)，on the whole(就整體而言)，to sum up，and so on.
(3)段落擴展
段落擴展(Paragraph Development)是根據主題句的思想來闡明問題的某一方面。好的段落應該是主題單一、內容完整、連貫，長度適中。
段落擴展的方法很多，但由于研究生英語入學考試的寫作實際上只是微型作文，這里介紹幾種最常用的擴展方法，以供參考。
1)描述法(Description):描述法是段落擴展中最常用的一種方法。描述一個過程或程序時，常用一般現在時的被動語態，這是“一般描述”;報導某一特定的程度或過程時，其涉及到的只是過去某一特定的情況，所以經常使用一般過去時的被動語態。如果描述不涉及到某特定的過程或程序，則經常用一般現在時的主動語態。此外，在描述過程或報導事件時，順序很重要。
2)舉例法(Exemplification):用具體事例來闡述主題句的中心思想。
3)比較與對比法(Comparison and Contrast):比較與對比是闡述段落主旨的常用方法;通過比較指出事物的異同，通過對比找出事物的差異。
下面列出須熟記的10個表示比較的常用句型：
句型a.A is different form. B in that…
句型b.With regard to…, A is bigger than B
句型c.A and B are different in every way(respect)
句型d.One of the differences between A and B is that :
句型e.A and B have a little(something, much etc.) in common
句型f.A is quite (completely, entirely, totally) different from B
句型g.A is not quite as/so big (expensive, interesting etc.) as B
句型h.On (the) one hand, A is (has, does) :;on the other (hand), A is (has, does):
句型i.A is exactly(precisely, just, practically, more or less, almost, nearly, approximately, about) the same as B
句型j.A is much(a great deal, a lot, considerably, somewhat, a bit, al
ittle, slightly, hardly, scarcely, only just) smaller (bigger, cheaper) than B[ZK)]
4)因果法(Cause and effect):通過分析事物發生的起因，來說明由此而產生的種種結果。
下面列出須牢記的8個表示因果的句型例句：
句型a.Bad weather is due to
caused by an increase in air pollution.
句型b.If
When there is an increase in air pollution, (then) the weather gets bad.
句型c.An increase in air pollution often
causes
leads to
results in
produces worse weather.
句型d.As
Since
Because
Now that the air pollution has increased, the weather gets worse.
句型e.The cause ofreason for worse weather was an increase in air pollution.
句型f.The/One resulteffectconsequenceof an increase in air pollution is worse weather.
句型g.The air pollution has increased.
So,Now,Thus,Hence,Therefore,As a result,Accordingly,Consequently,Because of this, For this reason, the weather is worse.
句型h.The weather gets worse, as
since
because
through
owing to
there is
because of
as a result of
on account of an increase in air pollution.
除上述四種擴展段落的方法外，還有許多其他的方法，如綜合法、歸納法、分析法和演繹法等。
