to have a dislike for=to dislike to have trust in=to trust to have an influence on to influence to have adequate knowledge of=to know enough about to have the need for=to need to have respect for=to respect But many others can be seen on every page as well: to give guidance to=to guide to provide assistance to=to assist to carry out the struggle against to struggle against to conduct reform of=to reform to engage in free discussion of=to discuss (it)freely to achieve success in=to succeed in to accomplish the modernization of=to modernize to realize the transformation of-to transform to bring about an improvement in=to improve to place stress on=to stress to exercise control over=to control to register an increase=to increase You should be on the watch for all of them 2.Unnec.verb unnec.noun third word As we have seen,in the first type of phrase a vague and general verb,incapable of expressing specific action,shifts the responsibility for that task onto a noun.In the second type,however,the noun cannot perform the task either. Consider"our efforts to reach the goal of modernization."Here 0
the noun ("goal")is no more precise than the verb ("reach").(In deed,"the goal of"is only another example of the superfluous catego- ry noun.This means that the work of the verb has to be done by still another word,a second noun ("modernization").Since now the first noun is not doing anything useful in the sentence,it too can be eliminated,along with the all-purpose verb.The result is,"our ef- forts to modernize." In phrases of this type,the basic pattern unnec.verb noun has been expanded to unnec.verb+unnec.noun third word.As in the example above,the third word is usually another noun (or gerund). Since this new noun is performing the function of a verb,it should be given the form of a verb. A:our troops used the method of slow advance B:our troops aduanced slowly A:three garrison divisions were necessary to perform the task of guarding warehouses B:three garrison divisions were necessary to guard warehouses A:we adopted the policy of withdrawal B:we withdre (or:decided to withdraw) This was a particular tactical retreat.not a general military policy.] A:in all matters we must assume the attitude of admitting what we do and do not know B:we should always (be ready to)admit what we do and do not know A:we should adopt the principle of combining solutions to 10
people's immediate difficulties with long-term develop- ment B:we should combine solving people's immediate problems with promoting long-term development [A further simplification would be:we should try to solve people's immediate problems and at the same time to pro- mote long-term development. A:we need to achieve the objective of clarity in ideology B:we need to be clear in our ideology But sometimes the third word called upon to do the verb-work is an adjective.Then it is the adjective that should be promoted to the rank of verb,while the idle words are dismissed from service: A:this measure will have a restrictive effect on the activities of speculators B:this measure will restrict the activities of speculators And sometimes the third word is another verb.Again,only the functioning word need be retained: A:we failed to take care to ensure that there must be an all- round balance between the various planned targets B:we failed to ensure an all-round balance between the planned targets ["There must be"merely duplicates the sense of "ensure. “Various"adds nothing to the plural“rargets.”] Like the category-noun phrases on which they are often based ("to reach the goal of modernization"),these unnec.verb+unec. noun combinations are only empty preliminaries to other words that 11
carry real content.They add no more to the meaning of the sentence than a cough.The writer is merely clearing his throat before he comes to the point. Overworked introductory verb phrases Chinglish texts typically contain many of these throat-clearing verb phrases,but there is one group of them which recurs so con- stantly,especially in official statements,that it merits special atten- tion.As noted below,these particular verb+noun combinations have a few plain-verb equivalents that are sometimes found as well.How- ever,no matter whether the verbs appear combined with nouns or standing independently,they do nothing but delay the advent of the main action: A:it is especially necessary to make great efforts to assimilate the achievements of other cultures B:it is especially necessary to assimilate the achievements of other cultures [What is especially necessary is to assimilate.It is obvious that this process is going to take effort,so we don't have to say so. Variants:make every effort to,try our best to,do our ut- most to,do everything possible to (also,plain verbs: strive to,endeavor to,work hard to )etc. A:all enterprises must pay attention to promoting excellent workers B:all enterprises must see to it that excellent workers are pro- moted [The point is not that the enterprises must "pay attention" 12
to doing something but that they must do it.If they pro- mote workers,they are clearly paying attention to pro- moting them. Variants:pay heed to,lay stress on,attach importance to (also,plain verbs:stress,emphasize),etc. A:the prineipal task at present is to do a good job in disseminat- ing and applying the results of scientific and technological research B:the principal task at present is to disseminate and apply the results of scientific and technological research [Logically,the task is not to do a good job but to dissemi- nate and apply.It can be taken for granted that people should try to do it well.] Variants:make a success of,achieve success in,do success- ful work in (also,verb+adjective:be good at),etc. 【n these examples the phrases“make great efforts to",“pay at- tention to,""do a good job in"are used indiscriminately,without logical necessity.And because they are not needed,they only clutter up the sentence and obscure its point.For that reason alone they should be eliminated But there is another reason as well.The expressions in this group have been so weakened by constant repetition that they have lost their power of exhortation.Thus when they are needed-that is,when their sense is really intended-they carry no force.They have degenerated into tedious formulas to which the reader no longer pays any attention. While overworked introductory verb phrases are characteristic of 13