作为一种语言测试方式， 托福考试的重点是检测考生的英语语言水平，如何写出正确流畅的语言是得到托福写作单项高分的必备条件。在TOEFL iBT Official Guide(托福官方指南，以下简称OG)中明确指出托福独立写作有三大考查维度：Development(展开论点)，Organization(组织文章结构)和Language Use(语言运用)。因此，除了注意作文的内容和结构外，阅卷老师同样十分注重我们在作文中表现出来的语言基本功。不管我们的观点多么精妙，证据多么充分，结构多么合理，如果语言错误百出，就不可能在写作部分得到高分。我们先一起来看一下OG上对于我们语言部分的要求：

　　Language use is the third criterion on which your essay will be judged. To get a top score, an essay must display "consistent facility in the use of language." There should be a variety of sentence structures, and word choice should be appropriate. If your essay includes a few minor lexical or grammar errors, you can still get a high score. However, if you make a lot of grammar errors and if those errors make it hard to understand your meaning, you will get a lower score. Raters will also judge your essay based on the complexity of sentence structures and on the quality and complexity of your vocabulary. If you use very simple sentences and very basic vocabulary, you will probably not be able to express very complex ideas. If your language is hard to follow, your sentences are overly simple, and your vocabulary is limited, you may score no higher than a 3 no matter how impressive your ideas may be.

　　可以看出来，托福独立写作部分对于我们写作的总体要求是consistent facility in the use of language(语言运用的和谐流畅)，给我们的具体建议是a variety of sentence structures(句子结构多样)和word choice should be appropriate(措辞贴切得体)，评分者(raters)的审查角度是lexical or grammar errors(词汇和语法错误)以及the complexity of sentence structures(句子结构的复杂程度)和the quality and complexity of your vocabulary(考生所使用的词汇的质量和复杂程度)。接下来我们分别先从语法错误、措辞和句子结构三个方面来探讨备考过程中我们应该注意的事项：

　　1. lexical or grammar errors

　　任何一种语言考试都强调语言表达的准确性，在2010年1月之后，ETS在独立写作部分中加入了e-rater的评分模式。电脑系统评分无疑对考生的语法词汇表达的正确性提出了更高的要求。在2009年1月份ETS发布的Evaluating the Construct -Coverage of the e-rater? Scoring Engine中，明确指出e-Rater会关注的四大语言层面：Grammar(Proofread this, Ill-formed Verbs, Pronoun Errors, Possessive Errors, Wrong or Missing Words, Sentence Structure包括：Fragments, Run-ons, Garbled Sentences, Subject-verb agreement), Usage(Article Errors, Confused Words, Incorrect Word Forms, Faulty Comparisons, Nonstandard verbs or word forms), Mechanics(Spelling, Capitalization包括Proper Nouns和Sentence-Initial, Punctuation包括Missing Question Marks, Missing Final Punctuation, Missing Comma or Apostrophe和Hyphen Error, Fused Words, Compound Words, Duplicated Words)和Style(Repetition of Words, Inappropriate Words or Phrases, Too Many Sentences Beginning with Conjunction, Too Many Short Sentences, Too Many Long Sentences, Passive Voice)，换句话说，我们要在独立写作中避免出现以上的常见的语言表达错误，这就需要同学们在平时练习中注意语法的积累。在这里简单列举同学们在写作句子层面上经常犯的错误：

　　(1)粘连句(Run-ons sentence)

　　Run-ons sentence指一句话中包含两个或更多的意思，但这些意思之间没有用恰当的标点符号或缺乏连接词等分隔开，这往往由于写作者不熟悉英语语法表达导致。如：

　　Students deserve more respect they are young adults.

　　I met an old man was standing by the street.

　　正确的表达可以是：

　　Students deserve more respect when/although they are young adults.

　　I met an old man who was standing by the street.

　　(2)逗号连接句(Comma splice)

　　Comma splice指用逗号连接两个分句。在英语中，逗号只能表示语气上的短暂停顿，不能表示两个分句间的逻辑关系，如果一句话中有几个分句，就常常使用连接词。如：

　　We are out of money, we decide not to eat out on the weekend.

　　正确的表达可以是：

　　We are out of money, so we decide not to eat out on the weekend.

　　(3)不完整句(Sentence fragment)

　　Sentence fragment指那些看似一句话，但实际上只是一个句子的一部分结构，往往缺少主语、谓语等基本结构，或是只有从句没有主句。如：

　　Driving in the city during the evening rush hour.

　　Many people do not like living in big cities. Because the life is too busy there.

　　正确的表达可以是：

　　Driving in the city during the evening rush hour is dangerous.

　　Many people do not like living in big cities, because the life is too busy there.

　　(4)修饰语位置错误(Misplaced modifier)

　　Misplaced modifier指的是被放错了位置的修饰语，这种句子不仅会拗口，而且可能引起歧义。如：

　　At the age of five, my father started to teach me piano.

　　He wants to quickly and easily finish the job.

　　正确的表达可以是：

　　My father started to teach me piano when I was five.

　　He wants to finish the job quickly and easily.

　　(5)并列结构错误(Faulty parallelism)

　　Faulty parallelism指的是在并列结构中所使用的语法结构不一致。如：

　　People should be judged not only by their words, but also by what they do.

　　正确的表达可以是：

　　People should be judged not only by their words, but also by their deeds.

　　(6)主从句错误(Faulty subordination)

　　Faulty subordination 指的是本该放在主句中的内容放到了从句中，从而使本该收到强调的内容并没有受到强调。这种错误对表达的准确性上有很大的影响，但很多学生并没有意识到这个问题，这在thesis statement和主题句中尤为重要。如，在讨论面试的问题时，如果我们把thesis statement写成Interview, which can benefit the modern society a lot, is becoming increasingly popular，很明显就没有强调应该强调的内容。这句话应该写成：Interview, which is becoming increasingly popular, can benefit the modern society a lot.

　　2. the quality and complexity of your vocabulary

　　既然OG中要求我们word choice should be appropriate(措辞贴切得体)，如何才能做到呢?这里大多数同学都有一个误解，认为quality and complexity of your vocabulary指的就是大量使用TOEFL甚至GRE的词汇，当然，这些词汇如果使用的正确固然是好的，但对于大多数同学来说，很多TOEFL/GRE词汇大家仅仅是认识，对于它们的搭配和感情色彩并不是很清楚，往往会闹出“今天我含笑九泉”、“我们的班长凡事都首当其冲”之类的笑话。在托福独立写作中什么样的词汇才是appropriate或者说能到的一定的quality and complexity呢?举个中文的例子，大家听过一句诗“春风又绿江南岸”，这里的“绿”字似乎并不是个“高级”词汇，但用在这个句子中是不是很贴切?在托福的评卷中，raters一方面会考虑同学们所使用的词汇的长度和复杂度(Word Length and Sophistication of Word Choice)，一方面会把考试文章中所使用的词汇表达与语料库中不同等级的文章进行比较(Score Assigned to Essays with Similar Vocabulary， Similarity to Essays receiving Highest Score)，从而大致判定我们的文字语言水平。因此，平时多去积累高分范文中的表达对于我们提升自己的语言很大的帮助。实际上各位同学能够熟练使用四级阶段的词汇便能能很好的表达意思，如我们想表达“生活中有很多这样的例子”，大多数同学第一反应是：There are many similar examples in our daily life.这句话在表达上没有错误，但是如果我们使用四级词汇中的abound写成：Life abounds with such examples. 这样的表达就会更加正式一点。

　　3. the complexity of sentence structures

　　什么样的句式在ETS眼中才能达到complexity的标准呢?OG中要求我们做到a variety of sentence structures(句子结构多样)，那么我们在保证句子表达正确性的基础上适当去变换句型就可以了。在这里很多同学又有误解，认为句子结构多样指的就是写长难句，殊不知滥用从句往往会使得语言变得啰嗦。比如说，我们想表达Mary是一个漂亮的女孩子，写成：Mary is a beautiful girl就可以了，如果偏要写成：Mary is a girl who is beautiful. 看上去句子变长了，还用上了定语从句，实际上整个句子显得累赘。我们通过对于独立写作高分范文的文本进行分析，可以总结出在高分范文中常见的句式有：

　　(1)并列句(包括平行结构，neither...nor...，not only...but also...等句式)

　　Junk food may cause a person to develop diabetes, to have heart disease, and to gain weight.

　　The mass media neither gives us the necessary information, nor does it tell us the truth.

　　We need formal education not only to gain knowledge but also learn social skills.

　　(2)从句(包括名词性从句、形容词性从句、副词性从句)

　　What kind of person you wish to become is more important than what kind of job you will have.

　　No one can deny the basic fact that it is impossible for average workers to master those high-technology skills easily.

　　A person who has an optimistic attitude toward his life can endure any hardship.

　　Children tend to imitate what they have seen and heard on mass media, which is sometimes dangerous and harmful.

　　When we watch commercials, we can get a lot of information about various products.

　　Millions of people have to spend more time and energy on studying new skills and technology so that they can keep a favorable position in job market.

　　(3)插入语

　　After-hours study, if properly managed, holds the key to success in the 21st century.

　　College students, lacking social experience, are easily cheated.

　　(4)句子强调(包括强调句式、倒装句式、否定句式等)

　　Although friends definitely play a significant role in shaping teenagers' personality, it is the parents and siblings that have a far greater impact on the development of their personality traits.

　　Only when the heavy and frequent exposure to television is restricted or regulated will the adolescents' life, both bodily and spiritually, be guaranteed.

　　On no account (Under no circumstances) can we ignore the immense value of knowledge.

　　(5)修饰性问句

　　If there were no Internet, how could people get various information immediately?

　　Isn’t that better than worrying about who wins and who loses all the time?

　　(6)分词

　　Tourism, which is a rising industry, has become the major source of economy, playing crucial role in many Asian countries.

　　To be more specific, government should stage some relevant laws or regulations to severely punish the factory producing a great number of pollutants and the people littering or spitting deliberately.

　　英语作文中句子的质量还受其长度的影响。但并不是说所有的句子越长越好。在写作中，短句能够给人留下比较深刻的印象，比较适合用来表达观点;而长句善于表达非常复杂的逻辑关系，比较适合用来解释不同现象间的关系。由于长句和短句的不同功能，在托福写作中，我们常用短句来表达关键信息，尤其是引言段中的thesis statement和正文段的topic sentence，用长句来描述引言段中的背景信息和对正文段的topic sentence进行拓展。如果我们能做到这一点，文章中就会有长短句交替出现，避免枯燥乏味的问题。比如下面这个段落中，作者就用一个短句表达主题思想，然后用了几个长句来解释这个思想。

　　Children in modern society become more difficult to understand than 50 years ago. Children acquire a lot more new information and ideas from various resources, such as mass media and the Internet, while their parents always cannot accept those ideas, because they always have a stereotyped mind and are reluctant to take novel concepts. Therefore, generation gap becomes huger between parents and children in modern society, which impedes the communication between parents and the children.

　　下面这个段落同样体现了这个特点：

　　Advertising assists customers to find and buy suitable products. Common knowledge is that advertising refers to presenting information, including ingredients, manufactures or providers, functions and so on, relating to a product or service by a variety of media, such as televisions, radios, newspaper, magazines, brochures, and so forth. With the presence of advertising, a consumer is able to acquire the latest information in the market, such as properties of a product or service, and thereby make a wiser buying decision. By contrast, without advertising, a consumer is at the risk of purchasing a product that fails to meet all of his or her needs, because of lack of knowledge of better alternatives in the market.

　　最后，我们要注意语言的衔接。高质量的文章要求行文流畅，各部分的起承转合不能有生涩之感，而衔接的主要目的是把文章里的各种内容有机地连接起来，使其成为一个整体，帮助读者更加清楚、准确地判断各部分之间的关系，更好地把握全文。这就像盖房子时在摆放整齐的砖块之间加上水泥，使之更为牢固。这一点在托福独立写作评分维度中的Organization中也有强调。最简单的方法就是使用过渡词来实现上下文的衔接。学生可以使用英语中一些常见的过渡词来实现语言上的衔接：

　　(1)增补(Addition)

　　in addition, furthermore, again, also, besides, moreover, what`s more, similarly, next, finally.

　　(2)比较(Comparison)

　　in the same way, likewise, similarly, equally, just as, in comparison, Compared with…, …, comparing with,

　　(3)对照(Contrast)

　　whereas, in contrast, on the contrary, on the other hand, instead, however, nevertheless, unlike, even though, while

　　(4)因果(Cause and effect)

　　because, because of, for, since, due to, owing to, thanks to, as a result(of), accordingly, hence, so, thus, given that

　　(5)强调(Emphasis)

　　certainly, above all, indeed, of course, surely, actually, as a matter of fact, chiefly, especially, primarily, in particular, undoubtedly, absolutely

　　(6)让步(Concession)

　　although, though, after all, in spite of, nevertheless, still, provided, while it is true....

　　(7)例证(Exemplification)

　　for example, for instance, that is, namely, such as, in other words, in this case, by way of illustration. One apt illustration of this point involves…

　　(8)总结(Conclusion)

　　to sum up, to conclude, in a word, in short, in brief, all in all, in all, to put it in a nutshell, in summary

　　(9)当说到…时：

　　as of, when it comes to, concerning, when talking about, as far as,

　　时间和空间(Time and space)

　　afterward, after, first, later, then, soon, outside, near, beyond, above, below, on the right(left), in the middle, opposite, in front of

　　当然，英语语言的使用更多的来自于同学们日常的积累。背诵单词并多读范文对于托福写作语言的准确使用有着很大的意思。