Thereby 是一個副詞,用於連線句子或短語,表示由於前述情況或動作導致的結果或結論。它的常見用法包括:
連線並列句中的後半部分,表達結果狀語的意義。例如:
"For the moon blocks our vision of the sun, it also blocks direct light from our star and thereby introduces us to an image of our world we would not ordinarily see."
引導分詞性結果狀語,表達由前述動作引起的一個結果。例如:
"Quite often, the organisms will perpetuate in a highly oxidized environment, thereby resulting in a growth in the number of organisms."
表示目的,用於藉以避免某事的情況。例如:
"They paid cash, thereby avoiding interest charges."
描述某事如何發生,與 therefore(描述某事為何發生)有細微的區別。例如:
"p53 initiates apoptosis in response to DNA damage, thereby maintaining cells』 genomic stability and suppressing tumor formation."
在使用時,應注意它與 therefore 的區別,thereby 描述的是「in this way」或「by these means」,而 therefore 表示「for this reason」,「consequently」或「because of this」。在科技論文中,thereby 常用於表達因果邏輯關係,以增強文章的連貫性和粘著性。