Writing in English

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Writing in English

• Typical problems for second-language writers
• Sandra Brunsberg
• Language Unit, KTH
• sandrab_at_csc.kth.se

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Why problems?

• Spoken vs. written English (channel)
• Informal vs. academic (mode)
• First language vs. English (code)

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Why problems?

• Spoken vs. written English
• Sp If you look at Figure 1, youll see
• Wr Figure 1 shows
• Informal vs. academic
• Inf This turned out to be a good method.
• Ac The method proved to be useful/robust/efficie
  nt.

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Typical problems with English

• Subject-verb agreement
• Tense choice
• Choice of modal verb
• Word order
• Sentence structure
• Punctuation and Capitals
• Spelling

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Typical problems with English

• Subject-verb agreement
• Tense choice
• Choice of modal verb
• Word order
• Sentence structure
• Punctuation and Capitals
• Spelling

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Subject-verb agreement

• Redundancy feature
• Does not exist in Scandinavian languages
• Requires knowledge of countability in nouns
• Complex noun phrases compound the problem

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Subject-verb agreement
Common beginners error Doubts has been raised
about the feasibility of the solution. (An
asterisk indicates an ungrammatical sentence)
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Subject-verb agreement
Should be Doubts have been raised about the
feasibility of the solution. But what about
this? Doubts about the feasibility of the
solution has?have? been raised.
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Subject-verb agreement
Should be Doubts about the feasibility of the
solution have been raised. Avoid the problem by
moving the verb Doubts have been raised about
the feasibility of the solution.
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Subject-verb agreementDetermining noun
countability
Data is or data are? Equipment or
equipments? Aircraft or aircrafts?
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Subject-verb agreementDetermining noun
countability
Data is or data are? (Both possible, but be
consistent) Equipment or equipments? (equipment
is correct uncountable) Aircraft or
aircrafts? (aircraft is correct,both singular
and plural aircraft is/aircraft are)
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Compound nouns Separate, join or hyphenate?
Which is better? 1a.Three-dimensional images
were used ? 1b.Three dimensional images were
used? 2. DVD-player or DVD player? 3a. Signal-to-n
oise ratio? 3b. Signal to noise ratio?
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Compound nouns Separate, join or hyphenate?
The better alternatives are Three-dimensional
images (3D images/ 3-D images) DVD
player Signal-to-noise ratio
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Compound nouns Separate, join or hyphenate?
Which is correct? First- and second-degree
equations Engine- and component design
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Compound nouns Separate, join or hyphenate?
The first is correct First- and second-degree
equations The second should be Engine and
component design
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Definite and Indefinite Articles

• Definitions often contain the indefinite article,
  to introduce the term and the class to which it
  belongs
• A web server is a computer that stores web pages.

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Definite and Indefinite Articles

• In some definitions, the term has no article
• Encryption is a method of encoding messages to
  provide privacy over a computer network.

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Definite and Indefinite Articles

• In some definitions, the term has no article
• Encryption is a method of encoding messages to
  provide privacy over a computer network.

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Definite and Indefinite Articles

• (web) server is countable
• (one server, more servers)
• encryption is uncountable
• (used in singular only)

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Definite and Indefinite Articles

• Rule 1 Countable nouns must have an article
  (definite or indefinite) when used in singular
  form
• a method of encoding
• a computer
• a computer network

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Definite and Indefinite Articles

• Rule 2
• The indefinite article (a/an) is used the first
  time the noun is mentioned, hence in definitions.

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Definite and Indefinite Articles

• Rule 3 The definite article will be used
• 1) from the second mention onwards.
• Compare these two sentences
• On the Internet a protocol usually refers to a
  set of rules that define an exact format for
  communication between systems
• For example, the HTTP protocol defines the
  format for communication between web browsers and
  web servers.

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Definite and Indefinite Articles

• 2) with post-modifying phrases, especially with
  of
• Computer security is the protection of
  information assets through the use of technology,
  processes, and training.
• 3) with unique reference
• The Internet is a global network of computers
  that connects millions of users.

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Definite and Indefinite Articles

• 4) with superlatives and the words first and
  last
• The greatest threat to Internet security is
  malicious software.

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Typical problems with English

• Subject-verb agreement
• Tense choice
• Choice of modal verb
• Word order
• Sentence structure
• Punctuation and Capitals
• Spelling

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Tense choicePast, present or future?
Past tense refers to a completed action A
research report has been published in
2001. Originally, the machine has been used in
only a few cases.
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Tense choicePast, present or future?
Past tense refers to a completed action Should
be A research report was published in
2001. Originally, the machine was used in only a
few cases.
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Tense choicePast, present or future?
Since and for require present perfect Since
the 1990s, many western companies are investing
in the former Soviet Union.
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Tense choicePast, present or future?
Should be Since the 1990s, many western
companies have invested in the former Soviet
Union. For the last fifteen years, many western
companies have been investing in the former
Soviet Union
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Tense choicePast, present or future?
More about present perfect During recent years,
many companies have invested in... Better than
In the last years This is used as follows In the
last years of his life, Darwin withdrew to the
country.
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Tense choicePast, present or future?
Present tense has two forms (aspects) 1) Simple
form (Used for processes, established fact) The
valve opens, allowing the water to flow down the
slope.
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Tense choicePast, present or future?
2) Progressive form (used for ongoing,
time-limited activity) The valve is opening, and
as you see the water is flowing down the slope.
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Tense choicesimple or progressive present?
Which is correct 1, 2, both, or neither? 1.When
the user calls from a moving car, the call is
being handed over to a new base station. 2.New
mobile systems are being developed to meet user
requirements.
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Tense choicesimple or progressive present?
Sentence 2 is correct 1.When the user calls
from a moving car, the call is (being) handed
over to a new base station. 2.New mobile systems
are being developed to meet user requirements
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Typical problems with English

• Subject-verb agreement
• Tense choice
• Choice of modal verb
• Word order
• Sentence structure
• Punctuation and Capitals
• Spelling

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Modal verbsShall or will?
Shall (Usually restricted to legal
documents) The experiment shall show how the
logical functions can be realised.
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Modal verbsShall or will?
It is better to use Will(Expresses
certainty) The experiment will show how the
logical functions can be realised.
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Modal verbsShould or would?
Should has two meanings (1) Expresses
obligation The power should be switched off
every night.
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Modal verbsShould or would?
Should has two meanings (2) Expresses a fair
degree of probability The work should be
finished by the end of the month. (N.B. This is
ambiguous, and could also mean 1)!)
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Modal verbsShould or would?
These could also be misunderstood According to
our instructions, we should test the following
properties... Further tests should have given a
more accurate result.
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Modal verbsShould have or would
have?Counterfactuals
For self-critical commentary If we had used an
alternative method, we might have been able to
explain the perplexing results of the second
test.. This would have allowed us to examine
these parameters more closely.
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Typical problems with English

• Subject-verb agreement
• Tense choice
• Choice of modal verb
• Word order
• Sentence structure
• Punctuation and Capitals
• Spelling

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Word order
Subject and verb not reversed when sentence
starts with connectors, prepositional phrases or
clauses Thus have we determined the importance
of this factor. Then must the problem of
emissions be addressed.
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Word order
Subject and verb not reversed when sentence
starts with connectors, prepositional phrases or
clauses In the first section is the theory
given. If this proves to be economically
viable, will many applications be possible.
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Word order
Should be Thus we have determined the importance
of this factor. Then the problem of emissions
must be addressed. In the first section the
theory is given. If this proves to be
economically viable, many applications will be
possible.
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Word order
Jones has, in a joint project with three
European universities, reported interesting
results Should be In a joint project with
three European universities, Jones has reported
interesting results
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Typical problems with English

• Subject-verb agreement
• Tense choice
• Choice of modal verb
• Word order
• Sentence structure
• Punctuation and Capitals
• Spelling

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Sentence structure
False parallelism By changing the structure
and let it be based on the XY model, we can
investigate....
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Sentence structure
Should be By changing the structure and letting
it be based on the XY model, we can
investigate....
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Sentence structure
Wrong non-finite form To lift the rig by the
bridle will exert less force. To test
applications is the only way to verify..... Here
we expect To test applications we need special
equipment.
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Sentence structure
Should be Lifting the rig by the bridle will
exert less force. Testing applications is the
only way to verify.....
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Which or that?
ABC have developed a household robot, known as
Nigel. The robot, which is designed to do simple
fetching, carrying and cleaning, will enable many
elderly people to remain in their own homes
longer.
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Which or that?
ABC have developed a household robot, known as
Nigel. The robot, which is designed to do simple
fetching, carrying and cleaning, will enable
many elderly people to remain in their own homes
longer. The commas indicate that this clause can
be lifted out without making it hard to
understand the sentence .
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Which or that?
ABC have developed a household robot, known as
Nigel. The robot , which is designed to do
simple fetching, carrying and cleaning, will
enable many elderly people to remain in their own
homes longer. ABC have developed a household
robot, known as Nigel. The robot will enable many
elderly people to remain in their own homes
longer.
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Which or that?
Compare with Many teams entered robots for this
years competition. However,the robot that was
designed by the KTH team won the
championship. Removing the marked clause
produces the following
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Which or that?
Many teams entered robots for this years
competition. However,the robot that was designed
by the KTH team won the championship. Many teams
entered robots for this years competition.
However, the robot won the championship. Which
robot?
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Typical problems with English

• Subject-verb agreement
• Tense choice
• Choice of modal verb
• Word order
• Sentence structure
• Punctuation and Capitals
• Spelling

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Punctuation
Comma splice At equilibrium the neurons will
change state, thus each update requires long
simulation time to compute the averages.
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Punctuation
Should be At equilibrium the neurons will change
state thus, each update requires long simulation
time to compute the averages. OR At equilibrium
the neurons will change state. Thus, each update
requires long simulation time to compute the
averages.
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Punctuation
Inappropriate use of semicolon One of its
important characteristics is the temperature
dependence a dependence the annealing procedure
uses to control the search...
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Punctuation
Should be One of its important characteristics
is the temperature dependence, a dependence the
annealing procedure uses to control the search...
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Punctuation
Comma instead of colon The learning phase
operates in two phases, a training phase to learn
the external world, and a free running phase to
adjust the weights.
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Punctuation
Should be The learning phase operates in two
phases a training phase to learn the external
world, and a free running phase to adjust the
weights.
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Punctuation
Inappropriate use of colon IBMs new
solutions. In the 80ies
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Punctuation
Should be IBMs new solutions. In the 1980s /
nineteen-eighties
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Punctuation
More on commas When shooting the cameraman must
hold the camera steady.(?)
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Punctuation
More on commas Clearer to write When shooting,
the cameraman must hold the camera steady.
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Using Capitals
When introducing abbreviations This work
focuses on methods for testing Java 2 Enterprise
Edition (J2EE).
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Using Capitals
Capitalise ALL main words ...in partial
fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of
Master of Science in Electrical Engineering
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Using Capitals
A further example Masters Thesis in Computer
Science
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Typical problems with English

• Subject-verb agreement
• Tense choice
• Choice of modal verb
• Word order
• Sentence structure
• Punctuation and Capitals
• Spelling

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Spelling
From a chemistry report We pressure-tested the
system for leeks leek purjolök
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Spelling
Their is know weigh wee can bee shore hour
spelling is write.
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Spelling
Their is know weigh wee can bee shore hour
spelling is write. There is no way we can be
sure our spelling is right.
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Spelling
Words that slip through the net its - its It
s raining (informal but correct) The laser has
found its way into many applications.
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Spelling The correct alternative?
1.These theories a.where b. were common 50 years
ago. 2.The difference was much greater a.then
b.than expected. 3.Our robot, a. wich b. which
c.witch was equipped with extra circuits, won the
contest. 4.It is not yet known a. whether b.
wether c.weather this model can be applied to
complex problems.
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Spelling The correct alternative?
1.These theories b. were common 50 years
ago. 2.The difference was much greater b.than
expected. 3.Our robot, b. which was equipped with
extra circuits, won the contest. 4.It is not yet
known a. whether this model can be applied to
complex problems.
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And finally

• This project was initialized to explore the
  future of electric vehicles.
• Should be
• This project was initiated to explore the future
  of electric vehicles.