"Style" by JM Williams: Lesson 4 Characters

1. 主要Chatacters要盡量為重要動作的主詞，且必須： 短、特定、具體
* Make the subjects of most of your verbs short, specific, and concrete - the main characters in your story. (p.55; Here's the point)

2. 主詞盡量是動作執行者 (flesh-and-blood people)，但有時"人"並非文章的重點，此時可用 Norminalization形式的名詞作為主詞，但此norminalization必須是讀者熟悉的。 (p.58-59大意)
同時，若main characters已為 norminalization形式，應盡量避免使用其他norminalization。
* If you tell a story in which you make abstract nominalizations its main characters and subjects, use as few other norminalizations as you can. (p.73)

3. Use a passive if the agent of an action is self-evident

4. Use a passive if it lets you replace a long subject with a short one

5. Use a passive if it gives your readers a coherent sequence of subjects: 涉及lesson 5的段落coherence，使整個段落的topics一致

6. Use an active berb if it is a metadiscourse verb

7. When possible, rewrite long compound noun phrases