动词信号词(Reporting Verbs)使用规则

无论是在直接引用还是间接引用过程中，我们都会提及一些带有观点宣告功能的动词信号词（reporting verbs）。请参考以下来自全英文书籍《Writing Academic English》第四版第43页的介绍：

｜“To introduce borrowed information—direct quotations, indirect quotations, or statistics—use the phrase according to or a reporting verb such as the following:

assert

insist

report

suggest

claim

maintain

say

write

declare

mention

state

那么，在使用这些reporting verbs的时候有哪些注意事项呢？请你一定要认真地阅读以下来自《Writing Academic English》第四版第44页上的每一条规则哦！

｜规则一：reporting verbs可以出现在所引用的内容之前、中间或者之后。

请参考以下例句：

1) One young bicyclist says, “To win in world-class competition, you have to take drugs” (Jones). 

2) “To win in world-class competition,” says one young bicyclist, “you have to take drugs” (Jones).

3)“To win in world-class competition, you have to take drugs,” says one young bicyclist (Jones).

｜规则二：但和规则一相比，according to通常出现在所引用的内容之前或之后，却不能在所引用内容的中间。

请参考以下例句：

4) According to one young bicyclist, athletes have to take drugs to win (Jones).

5) Athletes have to take drugs to win, according to one young bicyclist (Jones). 

｜规则三：reporting verbs无论与从属连词as是否同时使用，都是准确的。

请参考以下例句：

1）As one writer says when discussing the case of an Olympic medalist who unknowingly took a banned, drug, “The human body, of course, doesn’t distinguish international use from inadvertent exposure. Neither does the IOC [International Olympic Committee]” (Kidder, par.5). 

2) One writer says when discussing the case of an Olympic medalist who unknowingly took a banned, drug, “The human body, of course, doesn’t distinguish international use from inadvertent exposure. Neither does the IOC [International Olympic Committee]” (Kidder, par.5). 

｜规则四：reporting verbs可以使用任意一种时态。然而，当你在“间接引用”过程中使用过去时态的reporting verbs之时，要注意动词、代词和时间表达的变化。

请参考以下例句：

1）Some critics claim/have claimed that the International Olympic Committee has been lax on enforcement of drug bans (“2000 Olympics,” par. 6).

2) Some critics claimed that the International Olympic Committee had been lax on enforcement of drug bans (“2000 Olympics,” par. 6).

｜规则五：在引用过程中提及具体来源，会增加写作权威度，毕竟它能让你的读者快速得知可靠来源。

请参考以下例句：

1）The Institute of Global Ethics warns, “The Olympics could well become just another money-drenched media promotion in which contestants will be motivated less by athletic glory than by lucrative future contracts” (Kidder, par. 7).

(《Writing Academic English》4th. edition, p.44)

另外，关于这个提及到来源的部分，请各位参考以下摘自慎小嶷在《十天突破雅思写作》第三版中第111-112页的介绍（备注：即「」里所有的内容）：

2）「A recent study conducted by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences revealed that…（如果是教育问题可以用UNESCO，如果是犯罪问题可以用the Chinese Ministry of Justice, 交通问题可以用the Chinese Ministry of Transportation，建筑问题可以用the Chinese Ministry of Construction，环境问题可以用HSUS and Greenpeace）这个句型是专门用来编数据用的，比如下面的例句就很有说服力： 

例句: A recent study conducted by HSUS and Greenpeace suggested that there were over one million mammals in lab cages today.

一个数据就说明了人类现在虐待动物的情况有多么严重。

注：请注意这里的数据编得不能太夸张，否则考官就会怀疑数据的真实性了。」

对于能否编造数据这个话题，我就不在此予以任何评论。但是通过慎小嶷所给出的这些相应的数据来源或者引用说法的来源，让我们发现和前文全英文书籍《Writing Academic English》所提及的内容有异曲同工之处，某种程度上它们都表明了“引用”中提及具体来源，能够帮助增加权威性和说服力。