在小红花的鼓励下，努力往前走！
如果你的目标是写小说，应该看原版The Elements of Style （免费下载）：
http://www.jlakes.org/ch/web/The-elements-of-style.pdf
为了“完整”性，我们继续用The Elements of Style 。不喜欢看英文原著的，凑合着看我的注解（不是翻译）。
有时，我会用Google Translate。GT现在还不成熟，你不要拿它当回事。
IV Words and Expressions Commonly Misused
第四部分（45-63页），我只挑其中一小部分注解一下，因为我们是学习科技英语写作。如果你“喜欢”另外一些词，请告诉我。我会考虑补充。
Fact. Use this word only of matters capable of direct verification, not of matters of judgment. That a particular event happened on a given date and that lead melts at a certain temperature are facts. But such conclusions as that Napoleon was the greatest of modern generals or that the climate of California is delightful, however defensible they may be, are not properly called facts.
Google Translate: 仅使用能够直接验证的事项，而不是判断事项。特定事件发生在给定日期并且铅在某个温度下熔化是事实。但是，拿破仑是最伟大的现代将军或者加利福尼亚的气氛令人愉快的结论，无论它们多么令人难以理解，都没有被恰当地称为事实。
注解：fact是事实。比如：几天前，杭州下雪了。可是，如果有人说外国的月亮比较圆，只是那个人的看法，不是事实。
Facility. Why must jails, hospitals, and schools suddenly become "facilities"?
Google Translate: 为什么监狱，医院和学校突然变成“设施”？
注解：这是一个“潮流”，喜欢把语言“复杂化”。
Parents complained bitterly about the fire hazard in the wooden facility. （用facility，没有必要。）
推荐：Parents complained bitterly about the fire hazard in the wooden schoolhouse.
Factor. A hackneyed word; the expressions of which it is a part can usually be replaced by something more direct and idiomatic.
Google Translate: 一个陈词滥调;它的一部分表达通常可以用更直接和惯用的东西代替。
Her superior training was the great factor in her winning the match.
推荐：She won the match by being better trained.
注解：科技英语，离不开factor。我刚刚改完的文章，里面一堆key impact factors。两码事。
Farther. Further. The two words are commonly interchanged, but there is a distinction worth observing: farther serves best as a distance word, further as a time or quantity word. You chase a ball farther than the other fellow; you pursue a subject further.
Google Translate: 这两个词通常互换，但有一个区别值得观察：更远作为距离词，更进一步作为时间或数量词。你追逐的球比另一个人更远;你进一步追求一个主题。
注解：老美不太会用。中国好学生，应该不会用错。如果你不会，请留言。
Feature. Another hackneyed word; like factor, it usually adds nothing to the sentence in which it occurs.
Google Translate:另一个陈词滥调; 像因素一样，它通常不会对它出现的句子添加任何内容。
A feature of the entertainment especially worthy of mention was the singing of Allison Jones. （用了feature。完全可以不用。）
(Better use the same number of words to tell what Allison Jones sang and how she sang it.)
Google Translate:（最好使用相同数量的单词来讲述Allison Jones演唱的内容以及她演唱的内容。）
注解：作者不喜欢用feature。但是，科技英语离不开feature。
As a verb, in the sense of "offer as a special attraction," it is to be avoided.
注解：作者不喜欢把feature当动词用。
Finalize. A pompous, ambiguous verb. (See Chapter V, Reminder 21.)
Google Translate: 一个浮夸，含糊的动词。
注解：原作者也会嫉恶如仇！
Fix. Colloquial in America for arrange, prepare, mend. The usage is well established. But bear in mind that this verb is from figere: "to make firm," "to place definitely." These are the preferred meanings of the word.
Google Translate: 在美国口语安排，准备，修补。用法很好。但要记住，这个动词来自figere：“要坚定”，“绝对放置”。这些是这个词的首选含义。
注解：口语中，相当于arrange, prepare, mend。科技英语离不开fix。
Folk. A collective noun, equivalent to people. Use the singular form only. Folks, in the sense of "parents," "family," "those present," is colloquial and too folksy for formal writing.
Google Translate: 集体名词，相当于人。仅使用单数形式。在“父母”，“家庭”，“在场的人”的意义上，人们口语化，对于正式写作来说太过愚蠢。
Her folks arrived by the afternoon train. （相当于parents。）
推荐：Her father and mother arrived by the afternoon train.
Fortuitous. Limited to what happens by chance. Not to be used for fortunate or lucky.
注解：用于偶然发生的事情。不能替代fortunate or lucky。
Get. The colloquial have gotfor haveshould not be used in writing. The preferable form of the participle is got, not gotten.
注解：分词是got，而不是gotten。
错：He has not got any sense.
对：He has no sense.
注解：许多中国作者用get写文章。我很怕在科技英语写作中用get。不知道为什么。感觉太口语化。我一般会替换掉，比如用obtain。
例子：
We can get these solutions by using Eq. (3). (用get)
We can obtain these solutions by using Eq. (3). (用obtain)
［科技英语写作基础（系列）：大纲（1）
http://blog.sciencenet.cn/home.php?mod=space&uid=306792&do=blog&id=1146690
科技英语写作基础（系列）：大纲（2）
http://blog.sciencenet.cn/home.php?mod=space&uid=306792&do=blog&id=1146716］
1. 语态（1）
2. 常用时态
3. 一些标点符号“规则”（句号、逗号，参考The Elements of StylePart I）
4. 一些语法“规则”（主语、谓语的一致性、变化多端的代词、分词短语的主人，参考The Elements of Style Part I）
5. 一些基本的写作“原则”（文章结构、段落、语态、简洁性等，参考The Elements of Style）
6. 一些容易用错的词和词组（参考The Elements of Style）
7. 修改、修改、再修改［简洁为上, see Chapter 7 Concision by Joseph／三种修饰语＋两种“问题修饰语”，即悬空修饰语（p161）、错位修饰语／, see Chapter 8 Length by Joseph／逻辑性／一致性］
请大家多提意见。
