准确用词
英文论文写作过程中，往往会遇到不同英文单词都可以表达同一个中文意思，但根据其词性以及本身含义，在英语中所表达的含义不尽相同，LetPub在多年的英文科技论文编辑经验中，搜集了一些中国作者在英文写作中经常出现的错误，以下列出最常见的“研究”、“需求”、“暗示”三组词来举例：
Imply vs. Infer

Writers or speakers imply. Listeners or readers infer.
通常见到的是“作者及报告人暗示…”，“听众或读者推断…”当你使用imply的时候，你只是暗指某些事情而不是直接说出来。Imply这个词起源于古法语词，本意为“拥抱”，由此你可以联想到某个隐含的情境，实际要表达的部分这里是隐去了的。当你使用infer的时候，通常是你基于某种情境推断出了一些未被表达出来的意思。Infer来源于一个拉丁词“引进”。这会让你联想到读者或听众对某个句子中未明显陈述的内容加入自己的解释。用infer来代替imply的错误使用非常普遍，在未来十年左右的时间这种现象可能还会被认可，但是现在已经有一些细心的作者或报告人坚持去区分开他们的用法。

Research vs. study
这两词之所以容易混淆是因为它们即可作为动词又可作为名词。如果你问别人“'studies'和'researches'这两个词是一样的意思吗”，你可能会获得肯定的回答，但是仅仅当这两个词同为动词的时候该答案才是正确的。作为名词使用时，二者其实有着细微的差别。

Demand vs. need
"Demand"一词常用于经济学中，用来描述人们对某种事物的需求，更具体地也可以说成，人们是否有购买的欲望以及欲望的程度。人们对事物的需求可以分为两种，一种是人们实际需要的事物，另一种仅仅是渴望得到的，但不一定需要的事物。"Need"通常指的是人们有多么需要某种事物，指的是一种需要的程度，而不涉及人们是否需要以及是否渴望得到它。

重视中西方文化差异

英语论文写作过程中，往往会遇到一些中西文化的差异，而如果这些差异没有引起写作者重视时，很可能就是导致审稿人阅读文章产生疑惑的原因之一。以下列出最常见的 “国籍与种族”两组词来举例：
nationality vs. ethnicity
(noun) vs. (noun)
nah shun AL ih tee vs. eth NIH sih tee
("al" rhymes with "pal") ("eth" rhymes with "Seth")
Nationality
The state of being a citizen of a specific country or otherwise a member of a national group.
Ethnicity

The state of belonging to a group with a shared ancestral, national or cultural tradition

In common usage in the U.S., "nationality" and "ethnicity" mean very different things. "Nationality" means "What country's on your passport and birth certificate?" and "ethnicity" means "Who were your ancestors." In my case, my nationality is American and my ethnicity is mostly Italian and Irish.

In other English-speaking countries, however, "nationality" and "ethnicity" are almost interchangeable. (This is probably because most countries are believed to have been founded and principally populated by one group of people. This would be various specific Celts for Ireland, Scotland and Britain proper, Franks for France, Indians in India, etc. This belief is not always true, but it is usually there. The people in the U.S., however, have always considered themselves to come from more than one ancestral group. (Back in the 1700s, having Germans and Britons and Dutchmen in the same room counted as a highly diverse meeting, and the concept of ethnic diversity has expanded since.) So nation and ancestry were more clearly two separate things for Americans than for other people.)

To U.S. readers, talking about the "nationalities" of participant in a medical study does not make sense may be confusing because they will be thinking about citizenship and passports and not about shared genes or even shared recipes and eating habits.

正确使用逗号

英文论文写作过程中，逗号的使用往往会改变一句句子所要表达的意思，这种现象往往在一些复合从句的表达中出现，最常见的示例如下：
Restrictive vs. Nonrestrictive Clauses
An author sent me this:
● Local residents, impacted by ecological restoration projects, should be compensated.
● Local residents impacted by ecological restoration projects should be compensated.

Would that be okay if I remove commas here? Thanks.

Actually, that would change the meaning. In its current form, the words "who are" are implied before "impacted."
Local residents, who are impacted by ecological restoration projects, should be compensated.

This means that 1. all local residents are impacted by ecological restoration projects and 2. they should be compensated. Here, "who are impacted by ecological restoration projects" is called a non-restrictive clause because it is only describing the residents.

Local residents who are impacted by ecological restoration projects should be compensated.

This means that 1. some local residents are affected by these projects and some are not. 2. only those who are affected should be compensated.
Here, "who are impacted by ecological restoration projects" is a restrictive clause, because it restricts the meaning of the sentence to only some local residents and not others.

So the question is this: Is the original writer telling us that all the local residents referred to in this paper are impacted by the projects and therefore due compensation or arguing that only some of them deserve (or need) compensation? It should be pretty clear from the rest of the paper.

简单词不“简单”
英文论文写作过程中，往往一些常见、简单的单词在使用时，会被忽略其用法的一些限制，最常见的示例如下：
“and” vs. “or”
What is "and" in the affirmative may be "or" in the negative: Our results indicated X, Y, and Z, but they did not indicate A, B, or C.

Like vs As
“like versus as”的争议根本还在于传统上like是一个介词而as是连词。尽管如此，人们像连词一样使用like（像我一样）已经至少100年了，而语法学家对这种用法也反对了100年。1954年，一个温斯顿香烟的广告将这个争论引入公众的视野。温斯顿说，他们的香烟味道不错“like a cigarette should”，这让的用法激起了语言爱好者的愤怒，因为该广告应该这样表达他们的香烟味道不错“as a cigarette should.”

有效区分like and as的方法是使用like的时候后面通常没有动词。当使用like的时候，后面跟随的内容一般都比较简洁。如果跟随的子句中包含动词，则应该使用as。当使用as的时候，后面跟随的内容往往更为复杂。

你遵守这个规则与否可能取决于你对语法的挑剔程度。结果是，你可能经常听到的句子其实是错的，如：It's like I'm looking at my twin.而很多人不知道这句话是错的。所以我的建议是，除非你已经准备好接受语法学家们狂暴的抨击，否则不要将like作为连词使用，尤其是在写作的时候。

As if Versus As Though
最后需要说明的是，As if 和 as though之间其实没有明显的差异。有资料显示说，As if通常指不太可能发生的情况—my cousin being Batman（我的堂弟是蝙蝠侠）—as though则用来说明更可能会发生的情况—my neighbor is a maniac（我的邻居是个疯子）—但这不是一个明确的规定。
                                                                                                         ——转载自生物探索

相关文章链接：SCI科技论文写作杂谈（下）

参考资料
1. O'Connor, P. Woe Is I: The Grammarphobes Guide to Better English in Plain English. New York: Riverhead Books, 2003.
2. Lynch, J. The Guide to Grammar and Style.andromeda.rutgers.edu/~jlynch/Writing/l.html (accessed April 9, 2007).
3. Morris, W. and Morris, M. Harper Dictionary of Contemporary Usage. Second edition. New York: Harper & Rowe, 1985, p. 52.
4. Burchfield, R. W, ed. The New Fowler's Modern English Usage. Third edition. New York: Oxford, 1996, p. 458.
5. Garner, B.A. Garner's Modern American Usage. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003, p. 496.
6. "Use and misuse of 'like.'" The Chicago Manual of Style Online, 16th edition. Section 5.181. The University of Chicago
Press.http://www.chicagomanualofstyle.org/16/ch05/ch05_sec181.html?para=(accessed September 2, 2013).