我們常常強調英文論文寫作要足夠精簡，但是精簡不是要妳大量使用簡單句，壹旦妳這樣做了就會暴露妳薄弱寫作能力，同時還會限制表達效果，導致整篇論文質量不高，沒有深度。但是如果妳用簡單句和復合句表達，高下立判。例如：“由於位置偏僻，交通不便和缺乏信息媒介，農村社會保持著與世隔絕的狀態”這個句子很多留學生用簡單句寫出來就是這樣：
①Because there is a great distance and there are not enough transport facilities, the rural world is isolated. This isolation hay became more serious because there are not enough information media.
但是我們用復合句表達出來效果如下：
②The isolation of the rural world, because of distance and the lack of transport facilities, is compounded by the paucity of the information media.
這個由1個謂語動詞，9個名詞和5個介詞的長句其實只有壹個主幹：Rural world is compounded. 然後用介詞短語表達原因。新手在表述復合句時，先寫用“什麽是什麽”、“什麽幹什麽”出主幹，再往裏填詞是壹個不錯的方法。
可以看出第①句變成結構松散的中式英語。留學生剛開始寫復合句可能很困難，因此推薦《英語作文高級句式?第二版》，裏面的高級句式大家可以背誦下來，活學活用。但是，大量使用復雜句也不行，我們再來看例文：
A few days before, I saw a cartoon, in which a student asks his teacher where he can find a book named How to Do Well in School without Studying. The teacher asks him to find it in the fiction section. Apparently, the cartoon ironically demonstrates a truth that there’s no such a thing as a shortcut to studying.
It’s the nature of study that requires a solid foundation. Just as we cannot build a castle in the air, neither can we obtain advanced knowledge through a shortcut, for ever a slight shortcut can shatter the whole foundation, For example, students may choose to cheat to acquire a good score. However, the cheaters will wind up in a total ignorance, let alone dishonesty. In addition, although many students are averse to learning by rote, there is no denying that only by rote can one remember and learn basic knowledge, thusachieving the possibility to further study in the future. In this case, shortcuts also do not exist.
To sum up, students should come to realize that there exists no shortcut in study. Only by hard work can we form the bedrock of good performance in school.
總的來看這篇文章基本擺脫了中式思維，語義銜接還可以，大量使用復雜句且有些表達可圈可點。但是缺點也很明顯，妳會發現作者的表達很蒼白，尤其是shortcut in study 等出現了三四遍。有些地方還有語法錯誤，讀來仍覺生硬。不少的留學生在進行英文論文寫作的時候也會出現這樣的問題，不過留學生可以按照下面的方法解決此問題：
1. 復雜句與短語、詞匯搭配使用，不要全文都是壹種句式；
2. 降低同壹個詞出現頻率，善用同義詞替換平；
3. 學習範文中的觀點以及穿插其中的過渡句。
二、常見詞匯要活學活用，不要生搬硬套
有些詞匯很簡單，以至於很多人熟視無睹，比如與see有關的搭配可能連見都沒見過，更不要說拿來用了。如see through, see over sth., see about sth., see sb. /sth. out 等。而這些我們認為陌生的表達，母語人士可能在文章中大量運用。外教很可能不用every day 而用 on a daily basis, 不用 in a hurry而用at the drop of hat, 不用He took part in the competition. 而說Heentered for the competition. 不說He must be nearly 60 years old. 而說He must be going on for 60. 恰到好處的詞語活用所產生的效果有時絲毫不亞於復合句。例如，要表達秋葉滿地的場景，下面哪個句子會更好？
③There are a number of autumn leaves lying on the ground.
④ Dead leaves covered the ground.
答案當然是④。第④句讓表達簡潔；cover與lying壹比，不需要a number of 就能表示數量多。具體到日常寫作中，我們要學會用好動詞，能用動詞代替形容詞的時候盡量用動詞，比如make something complicated可以直接用complicate something來代替。比如下面這個例子：
All this helps explain Germans' attitudes towards the euro crisis. German voters are skeptical of transfers to southern Europe not just because of their fear of inflation or their experience with pouring money into former East Germany, but also because the typical German worker feels that he is no better off than the Spaniards he sees driving Audis when he holidays on the Costa Brava. After a decade of scant real wage growth, and given the unusually skewed wealth distribution, that perception is not altogether wrong.
“他在布拉瓦海岸度假”，這句話很多留學生可能會寫成He goes on holiday on the Costa Brava. 但文中直接寫成He holidays on the Costa Brava. 這裏直接將holiday當成動詞使用，句子變得簡潔有力。在平時寫作中不僅要意思正確，語法無誤，還要盡量用詞精準，表達有力。
註意：這裏的搭配指的是在朗文詞典中找到的，帶有例句說明的搭配，咱們在課堂上學的搭配不壹定在此範圍內。中學所學的詞組，英美人可能80年都不用壹次。我們都學過made from 和made of, 還有die from和die of, 兩者的辨析簡直讓人抓狂。不同的教學理念導致的教育結果必然不同，這就是不少中國學生出國後還要重學英語的原因。
三、“三順”原則貫徹到底
這裏的“三順”原則是指：寫起來手順，看起來眼順，讀起來口順。相信大家在寫完論文的時候最後通讀文章讀到有些句子會發現：“這句話沒有語法問題，但怎麽看怎麽別扭。”這就顯然沒有做到我們所說的“三順”原則。想要了解這個現象產生的原因，這裏給大家介紹語法的兩個種類：規定性語法和描述性語法。
規定性語法（prescriptive grammar）明確規定什麽正確、什麽不正確，主要解決“用的對不對”的問題。違背了這個規則，句子壹定是錯的。
描述性語法（descriptive grammar）著重於描述和解釋語言如何被人類使用，而不是規定語言應當如何使用，主要解決“用的好不好”的問題。
例如：However, is the phenomenon worthy of such optimism? 就是壹個符合規定性語法，但不符合描述性語法的句子，有點中式英語的意思。結合上下文改成However, can we be optimistic that what has worked in the past will work in the future? 就顯得流暢許多。
留學生們在英文論文寫作秉持“三順”原則，既能檢驗文章，又能培養語感，真是壹舉兩得。