商务英语写作指南-----老外都会犯错的写作错误
(1)regards和respect
I regularly see mistakes with phrases using the words “regards”or “respect”. There are several of these phrases in English, but they are easily confused and mixed up. For example, phrases like in respect to and with regards to are incorrect.
人们在使用与“regards”和“respect”相关的词组时经常会出现误用错用的情况。在英语里,的确有一些与这两个词相关的词组,但很容易混淆。比如,人们经常会用“in respect to”和“with regards to”来表示“关于”的意思,但实际上这种用法是不正确的。
Here is a list of correct phrases (they all mean basically the same thing):
下面列出几组由“regard”或“respect”组成的表达,它们的意思相近,都有“关于,至于,提到”的意思。
1.regarding
EX:I have received your letter of October 15 regarding the three letters of recommendation which you require.
例句:我已收到您10月15日的信,提到需要三封推荐信一事。
2.as regards (this is the only one with an s – “regards”)(这是唯一一个用到regards的词组)
EX:As regards communication with colleagues, department meetings are held once a fortnight.
例句:关于员工间的交流沟通,每两周会举行一次部门会议。
3.in regard to (rare)(很少用)
EX:This is Bill Burton from Milford Insurance, I'm calling in regard to our meeting next Tuesday.
例句:我是米尔福德保险公司的比尔伯顿,我想问一下有关下周二我们见面的事。
4.with regard to
EX:With regard to the Middle East and North Africa, the U.S. and EU pledged to continue to support democratic transitions and economic development.
例句:关于中东和北非问题,美国和欧盟承诺将继续支持其民主改革和经济发展。
5.respecting (rare)(很少用)
EX:I must tell you that I have not come to any decided opinion respecting him, but I think him a Maltese.
例句:我只能告诉您,我对他还没有什么明确的看法。但我认为他可能是个马耳他人。
6.in respect of
EX:When a customer first opens an account, he instructs the bank to debit his account only in respect of cheques drawn by himself.
例句:储户首次在银行开户时,嘱咐银行他的存款只能凭本世人签字的支票来提取。
7.with respect to
EX:With respect to your other proposals, I am not yet able to tell you our decision.
例句:谈到你的其他建议, 我现在还无法把我们的决定告诉你。
(2)According to的用法
Although these phrases are often used interchangeably they have slightly different meanings, so we should be careful how we use them.
在很多情况下,“According to”和“In accordance with”都可以互换,但是两者之间还是有一些细微的差别的。所以,在使用这两个词组时,我们需要特别小心。
How to use “According to”?
“According to”的用法
“According to…” is usually used when you restate something someone told you or something you have heard or read somewhere. It is mostly used for reporting.
“According to”往往是用在重述别人的话,或者你在其他地方听到或看到的内容,常用于报告的写作中。
EX:According to the clerk we spoke to when we telephoned the supervisory authority this morning, the application was filed last week.
例句:根据今晨我们对员工进行的监督权调查的电话访谈所说,上周表格就已经归档了。
It may be used to introduce information that might not be true:
“According to”可以用于引用不确实的消息:
EX:According to the state news agency, the number of demonstrators did not exceed 1,000. However, the organisers of the protest say there were at least 100,000 people on the march.
例句:根据官方通讯社的消息,参与游行的人数不超过1000人,而游行组织者称,参与游行人数超过了10万人。
It may also be used to introduce hearsay:
“According to”也可以用来引用道听途说的消息:
EX:According to Annabel, Tom wants to dump Sarah because he really fancies Emma.
例句:听安娜贝尔说,汤姆要甩了萨拉,因为他被艾玛给迷上了。
How to use “In accordance with”?
“In accordance with”的用法
“In accordance with…” is used in more formal contexts to introduce the notion of conformity. In a legal context it is used for stating what conforms to the law or a contract. It is never used to introduce information that may not be true.
“In accordance with”是用在比较正式的内容中,用来引述确实的信息。在法律文本中,这个词组就是用来引述法律条文或合同中的规定的。“In accordance with”从来不会用于引用不确实的消息。
EX:In accordance with Article 72 of the Act, employees of the Company have the right to form a representative body.
例句:根据该法令第72条规定,公司员工有权组成代表团。
In some cases you can use “under…” instead of “in accordance with”, or where “in accordance with” seems too strong:
如果觉得用“in accordance with”语气太强烈的话,也可以用“under…”来替换。
EX:Under / In accordance with a general rule of the Pharmaceutical law, the sponsor and the investigator are responsible for damage resulting from conducting a clinical trial.
例句:根据药品管理法规定,临床试验的赞助者和研究者要对试验所造成的后果负责。
Using a comma with this type of clause
在使用这类从句时,建议使用逗号区分
EX:According to recent government statistics, unemployment has risen from 3% to 5% over the last 12 months.
例句:根据政府近期公布的数据,在过去的12个月里,失业率从3%上升到了5%。
(3)Give notice的用法
There are two ways of expressing a notice period, as follows:
“通知期限”的表达方式有以下两种:
1.Under Clause 4.2 one month’s notice is required in order to terminate the agreement.
根据条款4.2的规定,终止协议前须要有一个月的通知期限。
2.Under Clause 4.2 a one-month notice period is required in order to terminate the agreement.
根据条款4.2的规定,终止协议前须要有一个月的通知期限。
Anything else, or a mixture of these two constructions, is wrong. Note than in the first example above “notice” is an uncountable noun so it cannot take “a/an”. In the second example, “notice period” is countable, so we must say “a notice period”. “One-month” is a compound adjective, so a hyphen (-) is required.
除了以上两种表达,其余的表达或者混合这两种的表达都是错误的。第一种表达中,“notice”是不可数名词,所以前面不需要加“a/an”。而第二种表达中,“notice period”是可数的,所以一定要用“a notice period”来表示。“one-month”在这里是复合形容词,当中需要加连字符。
More example:
更多例子:
Three months’ notice of an intention to terminate an employment contract is required after an employee has been employed for three years.
员工入职三年后,其终止用工合同的通知期限自动升级为三个月。
A three-month notice period of an intention to terminate an employment contract is required after an employee has been employed for three years.
员工入职三年后,其终止用工合同的通知期限自动升级为三个月。
Remember that in this sense of the word “notice” is uncountable, so you cannot give somebody a notice. You can only give somebody notice. But of course you can give somebody a week’s notice because “a” refers to “week” (and means “one”). In the same way you give somebody two weeks’ notice etc.
记住,当句子中的“notice”是不可数名词时,就不能用给某人一个期限(give somebody a notice),只能表达为给某人期限(give somebody notice)。但是,你可以给某人一周的期限(give somebody a week’s notice),因为这里的“a”修饰的是“week”,同样“a”也可以换成“two”,比如给某人两周的期限(give somebody two week's notice)。
by和until的区别
WRONG:Write the report until 5 pm.
RIGHT: Write the report by 5 pm.
Write the report until 5 pm means “Start writing the report now, continue writing it until 5 pm, then stop writing it regardless of whether it is finished or not.”
当你使用“until”意味着“从现在开始写报告,一直写,写到下午五点,然后不管你写没写完,都不能再写了”。
Write the report by 5 pm means “Make sure that at 5 pm the letter is written and finished”.
当你使用“by”就表示“确保一定要在下午五点前写完这封信”。
Use “by” when you refer to a deadline.
使用“by”,你指的是一个最后期限。
Use “until” when you refer to the period of time before a deadline.
使用“until”,你指的是在最后期限之前的一段时间。
Here’s a summary:
总结:
1.I can do it by 5 pm.
我能在下午五点前做完。
2.I can do it until 5 pm.
我会做到下午五点(不管有没有完成)。
3.I can’t do it by 5 pm.
下午五点前我做不完。
4.I can’t do it until 5 pm.
我要到下午五点才能开始做。
办公室留言怎么写
People often make mistakes in their automatic out of office messages. This can make a bad impression, especially if there are basic spelling or gramma mistakes, as such messages tend to be written at the last moment when you’re in a hurry to leave the office. So here are some template messages that you might like to keep for future use.
人们经常会在写办公室自动留言时犯些小错误,这会给人留下坏印象,尤其是这些错误是最基础的拼写和语法错误。人们总是在离开办公室前一刻匆忙写下这些留言,所以犯些小错误也就不可避免了。以下这些留言范例可以给你作为参考。
1.Thank you for your email. I am currently out of the office and will return on [●].Kind regards,
感谢您的邮件。我现在不在办公室,将于XX返回。此致敬礼
2.You have reached the mailbox of [●]. I am out of the office at the moment and will be back on [●]. Please refer all urgent matters to [●] at the following email address [●]. Regards,
你现在进入了XX的电子邮箱。我现在不在办公室,并将于XX返回。如有急事请找XX,以下是Ta的邮箱地址XX。此致敬礼
3.Thank you for your email. I will be out of the office until [●]. If you need urgent help please contact my assistant [●] on [telephone number] or email [●]. Regards,
感谢您的邮件,XX之前我都不在办公室。如有急事请联系我的助理XX,电话号码是XX,邮箱地址是XX。此致敬礼
4.Thank you for your message. I am currently out of the office and only have intermittent access to email. If the matter needs urgent attention please contact [●] on [telephone number] or email [●]. Best regards,
感谢您的留言。我现在不在办公室,不方便接收邮件。如有急事,请联系XX,电话号码是XX,邮箱地址是XX。此致敬礼
5.Thank you for your email. I am currently out of the office and will be returning on [●]. If the matter is urgent, please call me on my mobile on [telephone number]. Alternatively, please get in touch with [●] at the following email address [●]. Kind regards,
感谢您的邮件。我现在不在办公室,将于XX返回。如有急事,请致电我的手机,电话号码是XX。或者,您也可以联系XX,以下是Ta的邮箱地址XX。此致敬礼
6.Thank you for your message. Our office is closed today, [date], due to a national holiday. I will be back in the office tomorrow and will reply to your email as soon as I can. Best regards,
感谢您的留言。今天是XX,为国定假日,公司放假休息。我明天就会回公司工作并及时回复您的邮件。此致敬礼
“few” “little”和 “a few” “a little”傻傻分不清楚
我们大概在小学的时候就学过few和a few,little和a little的用法了。但是很惭愧,很多人学了十几年的英语,证书考了一堆,到现在还是对这些常用词分不清楚。看看,你到底能不能分清楚few,a few,little,a little的用法吧。
There’s a big difference between “few” and “a few”. In fact they have opposite meanings.
few和a few之间区别很大,事实上,它们的意思几乎完全相反。
If you say, for example, “I have a few friends in the Ministry”, it sounds impressive.
比如你说“我在上头有些朋友”,那别人会对你刮目相看的。
“few” = not many;“a few” = several. “Few” and “a few” are used with countable nouns.
few就是不多的意思,a few就是有一些的意思。Few和a few都是用来形容可数名词的。
Ex: The Regulator has presented this standpoint on few occasions.
例1:该官员在很少的一些场合发表过这一观点。
Ex: The Regulator has presented this standpoint on a few occasions.
例2:该官员在不少场合发表过这一观点。
“Little” and “a little” work in the same way as “few” and “a few”.
little和a little的用法和few和a few类似。
“little” = not much; “a little” = some. “Little” and “a little” are used with uncountable nouns.
little的意思是不多,a little的意思是有一些。Little和a little都是用来形容不可数名词的。
Ex: I have a little money” (a modest way of saying you’re reasonably wealthy).
例3:我有些钱(这是对我是有钱人的委婉说法)。
Ex: We hope to be able to complete the project in as little time as possible. (i.e. not much time – “as little … as possible” is a common phrase)
例4:我们希望能花最少的时间来完成这个项目(花越少…越好,“as little … as possible”这在英语中是个习惯用法)。
I regularly see mistakes with phrases using the words “regards”or “respect”. There are several of these phrases in English, but they are easily confused and mixed up. For example, phrases like in respect to and with regards to are incorrect.
人们在使用与“regards”和“respect”相关的词组时经常会出现误用错用的情况。在英语里,的确有一些与这两个词相关的词组,但很容易混淆。比如,人们经常会用“in respect to”和“with regards to”来表示“关于”的意思,但实际上这种用法是不正确的。
Here is a list of correct phrases (they all mean basically the same thing):
下面列出几组由“regard”或“respect”组成的表达,它们的意思相近,都有“关于,至于,提到”的意思。
1.regarding
EX:I have received your letter of October 15 regarding the three letters of recommendation which you require.
例句:我已收到您10月15日的信,提到需要三封推荐信一事。
2.as regards (this is the only one with an s – “regards”)(这是唯一一个用到regards的词组)
EX:As regards communication with colleagues, department meetings are held once a fortnight.
例句:关于员工间的交流沟通,每两周会举行一次部门会议。
3.in regard to (rare)(很少用)
EX:This is Bill Burton from Milford Insurance, I'm calling in regard to our meeting next Tuesday.
例句:我是米尔福德保险公司的比尔伯顿,我想问一下有关下周二我们见面的事。
4.with regard to
EX:With regard to the Middle East and North Africa, the U.S. and EU pledged to continue to support democratic transitions and economic development.
例句:关于中东和北非问题,美国和欧盟承诺将继续支持其民主改革和经济发展。
5.respecting (rare)(很少用)
EX:I must tell you that I have not come to any decided opinion respecting him, but I think him a Maltese.
例句:我只能告诉您,我对他还没有什么明确的看法。但我认为他可能是个马耳他人。
6.in respect of
EX:When a customer first opens an account, he instructs the bank to debit his account only in respect of cheques drawn by himself.
例句:储户首次在银行开户时,嘱咐银行他的存款只能凭本世人签字的支票来提取。
7.with respect to
EX:With respect to your other proposals, I am not yet able to tell you our decision.
例句:谈到你的其他建议, 我现在还无法把我们的决定告诉你。
(2)According to的用法
Although these phrases are often used interchangeably they have slightly different meanings, so we should be careful how we use them.
在很多情况下,“According to”和“In accordance with”都可以互换,但是两者之间还是有一些细微的差别的。所以,在使用这两个词组时,我们需要特别小心。
How to use “According to”?
“According to”的用法
“According to…” is usually used when you restate something someone told you or something you have heard or read somewhere. It is mostly used for reporting.
“According to”往往是用在重述别人的话,或者你在其他地方听到或看到的内容,常用于报告的写作中。
EX:According to the clerk we spoke to when we telephoned the supervisory authority this morning, the application was filed last week.
例句:根据今晨我们对员工进行的监督权调查的电话访谈所说,上周表格就已经归档了。
It may be used to introduce information that might not be true:
“According to”可以用于引用不确实的消息:
EX:According to the state news agency, the number of demonstrators did not exceed 1,000. However, the organisers of the protest say there were at least 100,000 people on the march.
例句:根据官方通讯社的消息,参与游行的人数不超过1000人,而游行组织者称,参与游行人数超过了10万人。
It may also be used to introduce hearsay:
“According to”也可以用来引用道听途说的消息:
EX:According to Annabel, Tom wants to dump Sarah because he really fancies Emma.
例句:听安娜贝尔说,汤姆要甩了萨拉,因为他被艾玛给迷上了。
How to use “In accordance with”?
“In accordance with”的用法
“In accordance with…” is used in more formal contexts to introduce the notion of conformity. In a legal context it is used for stating what conforms to the law or a contract. It is never used to introduce information that may not be true.
“In accordance with”是用在比较正式的内容中,用来引述确实的信息。在法律文本中,这个词组就是用来引述法律条文或合同中的规定的。“In accordance with”从来不会用于引用不确实的消息。
EX:In accordance with Article 72 of the Act, employees of the Company have the right to form a representative body.
例句:根据该法令第72条规定,公司员工有权组成代表团。
In some cases you can use “under…” instead of “in accordance with”, or where “in accordance with” seems too strong:
如果觉得用“in accordance with”语气太强烈的话,也可以用“under…”来替换。
EX:Under / In accordance with a general rule of the Pharmaceutical law, the sponsor and the investigator are responsible for damage resulting from conducting a clinical trial.
例句:根据药品管理法规定,临床试验的赞助者和研究者要对试验所造成的后果负责。
Using a comma with this type of clause
在使用这类从句时,建议使用逗号区分
EX:According to recent government statistics, unemployment has risen from 3% to 5% over the last 12 months.
例句:根据政府近期公布的数据,在过去的12个月里,失业率从3%上升到了5%。
(3)Give notice的用法
There are two ways of expressing a notice period, as follows:
“通知期限”的表达方式有以下两种:
1.Under Clause 4.2 one month’s notice is required in order to terminate the agreement.
根据条款4.2的规定,终止协议前须要有一个月的通知期限。
2.Under Clause 4.2 a one-month notice period is required in order to terminate the agreement.
根据条款4.2的规定,终止协议前须要有一个月的通知期限。
Anything else, or a mixture of these two constructions, is wrong. Note than in the first example above “notice” is an uncountable noun so it cannot take “a/an”. In the second example, “notice period” is countable, so we must say “a notice period”. “One-month” is a compound adjective, so a hyphen (-) is required.
除了以上两种表达,其余的表达或者混合这两种的表达都是错误的。第一种表达中,“notice”是不可数名词,所以前面不需要加“a/an”。而第二种表达中,“notice period”是可数的,所以一定要用“a notice period”来表示。“one-month”在这里是复合形容词,当中需要加连字符。
More example:
更多例子:
Three months’ notice of an intention to terminate an employment contract is required after an employee has been employed for three years.
员工入职三年后,其终止用工合同的通知期限自动升级为三个月。
A three-month notice period of an intention to terminate an employment contract is required after an employee has been employed for three years.
员工入职三年后,其终止用工合同的通知期限自动升级为三个月。
Remember that in this sense of the word “notice” is uncountable, so you cannot give somebody a notice. You can only give somebody notice. But of course you can give somebody a week’s notice because “a” refers to “week” (and means “one”). In the same way you give somebody two weeks’ notice etc.
记住,当句子中的“notice”是不可数名词时,就不能用给某人一个期限(give somebody a notice),只能表达为给某人期限(give somebody notice)。但是,你可以给某人一周的期限(give somebody a week’s notice),因为这里的“a”修饰的是“week”,同样“a”也可以换成“two”,比如给某人两周的期限(give somebody two week's notice)。
by和until的区别
WRONG:Write the report until 5 pm.
RIGHT: Write the report by 5 pm.
Write the report until 5 pm means “Start writing the report now, continue writing it until 5 pm, then stop writing it regardless of whether it is finished or not.”
当你使用“until”意味着“从现在开始写报告,一直写,写到下午五点,然后不管你写没写完,都不能再写了”。
Write the report by 5 pm means “Make sure that at 5 pm the letter is written and finished”.
当你使用“by”就表示“确保一定要在下午五点前写完这封信”。
Use “by” when you refer to a deadline.
使用“by”,你指的是一个最后期限。
Use “until” when you refer to the period of time before a deadline.
使用“until”,你指的是在最后期限之前的一段时间。
Here’s a summary:
总结:
1.I can do it by 5 pm.
我能在下午五点前做完。
2.I can do it until 5 pm.
我会做到下午五点(不管有没有完成)。
3.I can’t do it by 5 pm.
下午五点前我做不完。
4.I can’t do it until 5 pm.
我要到下午五点才能开始做。
办公室留言怎么写
People often make mistakes in their automatic out of office messages. This can make a bad impression, especially if there are basic spelling or gramma mistakes, as such messages tend to be written at the last moment when you’re in a hurry to leave the office. So here are some template messages that you might like to keep for future use.
人们经常会在写办公室自动留言时犯些小错误,这会给人留下坏印象,尤其是这些错误是最基础的拼写和语法错误。人们总是在离开办公室前一刻匆忙写下这些留言,所以犯些小错误也就不可避免了。以下这些留言范例可以给你作为参考。
1.Thank you for your email. I am currently out of the office and will return on [●].Kind regards,
感谢您的邮件。我现在不在办公室,将于XX返回。此致敬礼
2.You have reached the mailbox of [●]. I am out of the office at the moment and will be back on [●]. Please refer all urgent matters to [●] at the following email address [●]. Regards,
你现在进入了XX的电子邮箱。我现在不在办公室,并将于XX返回。如有急事请找XX,以下是Ta的邮箱地址XX。此致敬礼
3.Thank you for your email. I will be out of the office until [●]. If you need urgent help please contact my assistant [●] on [telephone number] or email [●]. Regards,
感谢您的邮件,XX之前我都不在办公室。如有急事请联系我的助理XX,电话号码是XX,邮箱地址是XX。此致敬礼
4.Thank you for your message. I am currently out of the office and only have intermittent access to email. If the matter needs urgent attention please contact [●] on [telephone number] or email [●]. Best regards,
感谢您的留言。我现在不在办公室,不方便接收邮件。如有急事,请联系XX,电话号码是XX,邮箱地址是XX。此致敬礼
5.Thank you for your email. I am currently out of the office and will be returning on [●]. If the matter is urgent, please call me on my mobile on [telephone number]. Alternatively, please get in touch with [●] at the following email address [●]. Kind regards,
感谢您的邮件。我现在不在办公室,将于XX返回。如有急事,请致电我的手机,电话号码是XX。或者,您也可以联系XX,以下是Ta的邮箱地址XX。此致敬礼
6.Thank you for your message. Our office is closed today, [date], due to a national holiday. I will be back in the office tomorrow and will reply to your email as soon as I can. Best regards,
感谢您的留言。今天是XX,为国定假日,公司放假休息。我明天就会回公司工作并及时回复您的邮件。此致敬礼
“few” “little”和 “a few” “a little”傻傻分不清楚
我们大概在小学的时候就学过few和a few,little和a little的用法了。但是很惭愧,很多人学了十几年的英语,证书考了一堆,到现在还是对这些常用词分不清楚。看看,你到底能不能分清楚few,a few,little,a little的用法吧。
There’s a big difference between “few” and “a few”. In fact they have opposite meanings.
few和a few之间区别很大,事实上,它们的意思几乎完全相反。
If you say, for example, “I have a few friends in the Ministry”, it sounds impressive.
比如你说“我在上头有些朋友”,那别人会对你刮目相看的。
“few” = not many;“a few” = several. “Few” and “a few” are used with countable nouns.
few就是不多的意思,a few就是有一些的意思。Few和a few都是用来形容可数名词的。
Ex: The Regulator has presented this standpoint on few occasions.
例1:该官员在很少的一些场合发表过这一观点。
Ex: The Regulator has presented this standpoint on a few occasions.
例2:该官员在不少场合发表过这一观点。
“Little” and “a little” work in the same way as “few” and “a few”.
little和a little的用法和few和a few类似。
“little” = not much; “a little” = some. “Little” and “a little” are used with uncountable nouns.
little的意思是不多,a little的意思是有一些。Little和a little都是用来形容不可数名词的。
Ex: I have a little money” (a modest way of saying you’re reasonably wealthy).
例3:我有些钱(这是对我是有钱人的委婉说法)。
Ex: We hope to be able to complete the project in as little time as possible. (i.e. not much time – “as little … as possible” is a common phrase)
例4:我们希望能花最少的时间来完成这个项目(花越少…越好,“as little … as possible”这在英语中是个习惯用法)。