中国学生有哪些常见的用词错误？

最近读到了一本讲中国学生写作常见错误的图书English Exposed: Common Mistakes Made by Chinese Speakers，作者Steve Hart长期为国际学生批改学术论文，对于英语学习者常犯的写作错误有深刻理解。他分析了600多篇中国学生论文，并总结写成了此书。书中指出了不少中国学生写作的高频用词问题，下面总结几个经典例子：

(1) regarding

在表达“关于，至于”这一意思时，很多人会用regarding这一词，但单词经常被用错，比如：The company is being questioned regarding to its employment policy. 该公司的用人政策正受到质疑。

单词正确的用法是regarding something，而不是regarding to something，因此句子要改为：The company is being questioned regarding its employment policy.

单词之所以用错是因为人们将它和in/with regard to something混淆，in/with regard to something同样用来表示“关于”，比如：I have a question with regard to [=concerning, regarding] your last statement.

(2) etc

在列举项目时我们经常会用到etc这个用法，表示“以及其他，等等”，但不少人会写成and etc，比如：We saw lots of lions, tigers, elephants, and etc.

这种写法是错误的，因为etc是et cetera的缩写，意思是"and others of the same type"，已经包含了"and"的含义，因此不能说and etc，直接说etc即可。

需要注意的是，etc是英式英语写法，美式英语也写成etc. 

(3) meanwhile

在表达“与此同时”可以用meanwhile，但是不能说in the meanwhile，比如不能说：

You can set the table. In the meanwhile, I'll start making dinner. 

要说：You can set the table. Meanwhile, I'll start making dinner.

出现这一问题的原因是将单词与同义词组in the meantime搞混，平时写的时候要特别留意。

(4) superior to

要表示“A比B更好”，要说：A is superior to B，而不能说：A is superior than B，比如应该说：Your computer is far superior to mine.

(5) research

不少同学会将research当成可数名词使用，但实际上它是一个不可数名词，因此不能说：

According to a recent research, women’s earnings are still 27% lower than men’s.

而应该说：According to recent research, women’s earnings are still 27% lower than men’s.

如果要表示“一项研究”，我们可以说a study或者a piece of research，“多项研究”可以说several studies，比如上面的句子可以改为：

According to a study, women’s earnings are still 27% lower than men’s.

(6) such

Such在写作中是一个高频词，它可以作为限定词，表示“这样的，诸如此类的”，当单词取该含义时后面要接不可数名词、名词复数或者名词单数加冠词，因此我们不能说：

The city's air quality has been deteriorating for the past decade. Such problem will not be solved in the short term.

而应该说：…Such a problem will not be solved in the short term.

(7) last but not least

很多同学喜欢在议论文中使用last but not least来表示“最后但同样重要的”，但这一用法放在学术写作中显得不够正式，可以用last来代替。

(8) for example

一些同学在举例的时候会将for example作为连词使用，比如：

It was obvious that her memory was failing, for example, she would often forget where she put her car keys.

但这样的用法是错误的，for example不能当连词用，应该另起一句，写成：

It was obvious that her memory was failing. For example, she would often forget where she put her car keys.

(9) lack

lack有名词和动词用法，动词用法是somebody lacks something，而名词用法是(a) lack of something，两者容易混淆，比如经常有人写出这样的句子：We lack of ideas. 正确的说法应该是：We lack ideas.

(10) a number of

A number of后面应该接可数名词复数形式，而an amount of后面要接不可数名词，两者不能混淆。比如：

(1) A number of options were suggested.

(2) A certain amount of stress can be a good thing.

同时要注意a number of和the number of的区别，a number of相当于“几个，若干”，the number of XX相当于“XX的数量”，后面的谓语动词要用单数，比如：The number of farmers is decreasing.

我们最近推出了一个“100词写作社群”，通过对常见词的训练来提升遣词造句水平，社群明天开班，感兴趣的同学欢迎关注：怎样用100常见词提升英文写作？