八． 措词毛病(Troubles in Diction)。Diction是指在特定的句子中如何适当地选用词语的问题，囿于教学时间紧迫，教师平时在这方面花的时间往往极其有限，影响了学生在写作中没有养成良好的推敲，斟酌的习惯。他们往往随心所欲，拿来就用。所以作文中用词不当的错误比比皆是。学生所接触的词汇主要来自精读和泛读，他们所掌握的词汇有口语、一般用语、正式用语，也有俚语、方言；有美国英语，也有英国英语。他们对同义词或近义词的细微区别不太了解，英语词与近义汉字区别不清。
例如：
误: He finally resolved the problem.
正:He finally solved the problem.
析：resolve 的汉语意思是“使分解”、“解决”，resolve虽有解决之意，只是解决的不是问题，而是contradiction 或doubt, 解决问题应用 "solve"。
例如：The increasing use of chemical obstacles in agriculture also makes pollution.
(农业方面化学物质使用的不断增加也造成了污染。)
析：显然，考生把obstacles“障碍”，“障碍物”误作substance“物质”了。另外“the increasing use (不断增加的使用)” 应改为“abusive use(滥用)”。
改为：The abusive use of chemical substances in agriculture also causes/leads to pollution.
而英语则有词性的变化，学生辨别词汇种类的能力不够，同一汉语意思的动词、名词和形容词分不清，造成词汇错误。例：
误：The students complaint that there are too much homework.
正：The students complain that there is too much homework.
误：If you work hard, you will be sure to success.
正：If you work hard, you will be sure to succeed.
（误）However the speed of a car is much faster than that of a bicycle.
（正）However the speed of a car is much higher than that of a bicycle.
【说明】speed只能和high，low，good，top，normal，fantastic，moderate，surprising等搭配，不能与fast，quick，slow搭配。但可以这样说 A car is much faster in speed than a bicycle.