Transcript Writing in English

Writing in English
Typical problems for
second-language
writers
Sandra Brunsberg
Language Unit, KTH
[email protected]
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, you’ll 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/efficient.
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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 beginner’s 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 agreement
Determining noun countability
Data is or data are?
Equipment or equipments?
Aircraft or aircrafts?
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Subject-verb agreement
Determining 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-noise 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 choice:
Past, 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 choice:
Past, 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 choice:
Past, 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 choice:
Past, 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 choice:
Past, 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 choice:
Past, 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 choice:
Past, 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 choice:
simple 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 choice:
simple 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 verbs:
Shall or will?
Shall: (Usually restricted to legal documents)
*The experiment shall show how the logical
functions can be realised.
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Modal verbs:
Shall 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 verbs:
Should or would?
Should has two meanings:
(1) Expresses obligation:
The power should be switched off every night.
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Modal verbs:
Should 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 verbs:
Should 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 verbs:
Should 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 year’s
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 year’s
competition. However,the robot that was
designed by the KTH team won the
championship.
Many teams entered robots for this year’s
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:
*IBM:s new solutions.
*In the 80:ies
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Punctuation
Should be:
IBM’s 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:
Master’s 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
71
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
-
it’s
It’s raining (informal but correct)
*The laser has found it’s 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.
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