A year’s treatment for he or she ……(用him or her)

       Of the twenty animals who survived, only four lived more than 20 days.(用which)

       Intramuscular hemangioma usually involves a single muscle, but they may demonstrate regional involvement and can occasionally grow extremely large.(用it)

 

       Smith, as well as Jones, contend that tobacco contributes to cancer of the lung.(用contends)

       注:Jones 是Smith 的同位语

       The criteria……was reviewed……(用were)

       Data collection……were accepted……(用was)

 

      表示行动的各种短语都应有一个与之相关的主语。这类短语可以是不定式短语、动名词短语、分词短语和介词短语。如果缺少逻辑上的主语，这些短语就成了“孤儿”，英语中称游离修饰成分(dangling modifiers or danglers)。这种结构在我国英文版杂志中并不少见。如：

      原句:The course of the patient’s illness was followed after leaving the hospital.

      改过:The patient was followed up after discharge from hospital.

      或:The patient was observed periodically after she (or he) left hospital.

      原句:To improve the efficacy of the relevant tests, computer technique has been used in electrophysiology examination in many institutions.

      改过:To improve the efficacy of the relevant tests, we have used computer techniques in electrophysiology examination in many institutions.

      或:To improve the efficacy of the relevant tests, many institutions have used computer techniques in electrophysiology examination.

      注:不定式短语与句子主语缺少逻辑关系的情况在国外文献中并不少见，有的语言学家认为这是一种惯用法，并无过错；但是相对保守的语言学家坚持应该纠正这种不一致。译者或者作者可能更主要的是要照顾到表达的方便。

     原句:The diaphragm was opened to free the stomach sufficiently by dissecting from the omentum up to the level of the pylrus.

     改过:The diaphragm was opened to free the stomach sufficiently through dissection of the omentum up to the level of the pylorus.

     原句:Based on animal experiments, 10 patients with benign or malignant lesions at the middle and lower thoracic esophagus were selected for preservation of LES during esophagotomy.

     改过:Based on animal experiments, we selected 10 patients with benign or malignant lesions at the middle and lower thoracic esophagus for preservation of LES during esophagotomy.

      注:事实上，此组的原句和修改句均无语法错误，原因是人们现在将“based on”看作固定搭配，并不受“施受动”语法规则的限制，类似的还有“given”。

      从以上这些例子中可以看出，论文中一出现-ing、-ed类词尾的动词非谓语形式，就要警惕出现分词短语游离现象。区别句子正确与否的一个办法是找出逻辑主语，纠正的方法也可找出一个主语来或重写。当然，对于游离修饰成分的识别，需要较多的语法知识和实际经验，一些看似游离的成分，因为惯用而约定成俗，过于纠缠反而显得古板落伍。

 

      医学和生命科学英文论文中常用到并列结构，这种结构可以在较短的篇幅内蕴涵大量的信息，且极具对称美，可以提高语言表达的力度和效度，值得多加利用。但译者或作者往往处理不好，不知道词、词组、短语、句子怎样才能正确并列，造成并列句不并列。如：

      原句:The patients were instructed to eat regular meals,that they should drink plenty of water, and they should take adequate exercise.

改过：The patients were instructed to eat regular meals, drink plenty of water, and take adequate exercise.

      原句:There are still three main shortcomings: a.50% acute closure ,b.35%late restenosis and c.another 50% of cases unsuitable to be treated with PTCA.

改过：There are still three main shortcomings: acute closure (50% cases),late restenosis(35%),and unsuitable treatment with PTCA(50%)。

      处理这些的原则是同类相一致，比如不定式则与不定式一致，短语则与短语一致，且要注意句子的对称性，也就是表观上的并列。