雅思寫作一直是雅思考生需要攻克的難題。那么通關秘笈是什么?很顯然，雅思寫作模板的時代已經過去了。 “英文寫作邏輯和銜接”才是那條通往羅馬的必經之路。參照雅思官方發布的評分標準，不難看出雅思對英文寫作邏輯的重視： “邏輯與銜接”(Coherence and Cohesion)為四項寫作評分原則之一。以6分的標準為例，寫作評分標準中對“邏輯與銜接”是這樣描述的：
l arranges information and ideas coherently and there is a clear overall progression (連貫地組織信息及論點，總體來說，能清晰地推進行文發展)
l uses cohesive devices effectively, but cohesion within and/or between sentences may be faulty or mechanical (有效地使用銜接手段，但句內及/或句間的銜接有時有誤或過于機械)
所謂“清晰的推進行文發展”(見圖表1中紅色字體部分)，至少要做到文章中使用到準確、有效的邏輯連詞(logical conjunction) 又名信號詞。信號詞對于文章過程的連貫起到了作用, 它也是英語寫作中眾多過渡手段之一。雅思寫作中常用到的邏輯連詞按照分類如下10類：
(1)表示遞進：and, also, too, in addition, moreover, besides ,furthermore, not only… but also…, along with, next, what’s more.
(2)表示時間: after, before, soon, when, until, during, immediately, then.
(3)表示舉例: for example, for instance, such as, that is, in other words, in fact.
(4)表示相同即第二個觀點在某些方面和第一個觀點相似：Like, as, similarly, in the some way, as well, too, equally, likewise.
(5)表示不同，即觀點和我們所期望的觀點不同(讀者需要對下一句的意思轉換做好準備)：Unlike, in contrast with\to, whereas, on the contrary, on the other hand, instead, but, however, yet, although, nevertheless, even though, in spite of, despite, rather than.
(6)表示因果：since, because, due to, owing to, for, as, because of, on account of, as a result, therefore, thus, hence, so, consequently, so…that.
(7)表示目的：in order to, in the hope that, so as to, so that.
(8)表示總結 in conclusion, on the whole, to conclude, to sum up, finally, at last.
(9)表示順序：first, then, next, after that, finally, last of all, still, soon, later, initially.
(10)表示條件：if, unless, on condition that, as long as, in case, suppose.
這些起橋梁作用的過渡詞語(Transitional Words\Phrases) 把文章有條理的銜接起來，使整篇文章流暢自然、語義連貫。
然而，這些看似簡單的詞語，在實際寫作中卻不容易掌握。根據近幾年學生作文的情況來看，大部分學生都開始有意識的使用連接詞來達到語篇的邏輯連貫，但在使用上仍存在問題。 下面我們重點分析幾個常見問題：
1. 漏用邏輯連詞。如：
1Home-working enables employees to work at ease. For example, those with childcare responsibilities could arrange their schedule flexibly. 2Working at home ensures employers’ multiple options in human resource.
仔細理解不難發現其實1句和2句之間的關系是平等的，均屬于觀點句。為了讓這兩個句子凸顯出相應的地位，以區別中間的舉例部分，建議在1句和2句之前各添加表示遞進的邏輯連詞，如what’s more或 in addition. 修改后如下文：
To begin with, home-working enables employees to work at ease. For example, those with childcare responsibilities could arrange their schedule flexibly. What’s more, working at home ensures employers’ multiple options in human resource…
2. 錯用邏輯連詞，如：
1One hand, home-working enables employees to work at ease. 2Nevertheless, these who are disabled can avoid many difficulties.
原文中1句和2句的邏輯連詞都用錯了。首先，從語法形式上看，邏輯連接詞一般由連詞、連接副詞、介詞、介詞短語等充當。而1句的句首“one hand”是一個名詞短語，證明不正確。我們需要做的修改是將“one hand”改成一個介詞短語“on one hand”作為1句的邏輯連詞;而相對應的邏輯連詞應該是“on the other hand”，銜接與1句中觀點相對應的另一方觀點。比如：
On one hand, home-working enables employees to work at ease. On the other hand, employees may be confronted with some problems brought by home-working.
而對于2句中的連詞使用錯誤是“nevertheless”這個邏輯詞的意義與2句中的內涵不符。原文中的2句 these who are disabled can avoid many difficulties 是對1句觀點的一個擴展和支持。所以2句和1句之間的邏輯不應該是nevertheless所表達的轉折關系;相反，應該是遞進或舉例關系，所以可以做以下修改：
On one hand, home-working enables employees to work at ease, especially to those who are disabled, who can avoid many difficulties by working at home.
或者修改為：
On one hand, home-working enables employees to work at ease. For example, those workers who are disables can avoid many difficulties by working at home.
3. 濫用邏輯連接詞。有的雅思考生主觀地認為盡量多用連接詞語可以加強句際銜接，但結果是連接詞語過分堆積，造成多余，評分標準中所提到的“機械”地句子銜接(見上文下劃線部分)。如:
1Working at home ensures employers’ multiple options in human resource. 2However, if they hire staff through modern technologies, such as internet, fax, or telephone. 3It is hard to know how the employee’s quality is which takes disadvantages of the company. 4 Although it is hardly capitalize on employer.
請注意紅色字體標注的部分，均屬于濫用邏輯連詞的部分。可以 看到，在4個句子中，這位考生錯用了3個邏輯連詞。這個現象屬于 “makes inadequate, inaccurate or over-use of cohesive devices(銜接手段不足、不準確或過度使用)”——這是5分寫作水平的評價。為了改善這個問題，達到6分的標準，建議可以做如下修改：
1Working at home ensures employers’ multiple options in human resource. 2However, if they hire staff through modern technologies, such as internet, fax, or telephone,3 it is hard to know how efficient the employees are. 4Therefore, home-working can hardly benefit employers.
1句是觀點句，保持不變。根據意義判斷，原文的2句是想要反駁該觀點，所以原文中使用however是正確的。問題是表示條件的邏輯連詞if后面引導的是從句，而原文當中卻沒有相應的主從關系句型跟if搭配，導致嚴重錯誤。修改方法是將2句和3句之間的句號改為逗號，使3句成為2句的主句，突出if條件句的主次關系。對于原文的4句來說，用邏輯連詞although是不恰當的。因為顯然句子內容想要表達的是對前面三句的一個小總結，因此邏輯關系應該用therefore來引導。
通過本文，我們了解到雅思寫作中邏輯銜接的一個重要手段——邏輯連詞的使用是如何影響寫作得分的。我們也可以通過例子看到中國的雅思考生在使用邏輯連詞的過程中最容易出現問題。我的建議是僅僅通過記憶更多類似的詞匯是不足以實現提高分數的目的的，我們還需要有意識地閱讀考官的范文，通過模仿的手段來表現自己英文寫作內容才能夠實現突破。