This article series aims to eliminate usage errors and help non-native speakers to write clearly and fluently. We suggest that you always do proper research and use style guides effectively. For anything you are not sure of, feel free to ask us. Misused word important Alternatives large, substantial, significant.
This article series aims to eliminate usage errors and help non-native speakers to write clearly and fluently. We suggest that you always do proper research and use style guides effectively. For anything you are not sure of, feel free to ask us. Misused word control, to control, a control Alternatives audit, check, verify/verification, inspect/inspection, safeguard. Explanation To control does not usually mean “to audit,” “check” or “verify” and “a control” is not normally “a check” or “an inspection.” Its most […]
This article series aims to eliminate usage errors and help non-native speakers to write clearly and fluently. We suggest that you always do proper research and use style guides effectively. For anything you are not sure of, feel free to ask us. Misused word modify Alternatives amend, change. Explanation When referring to changes to legislation, “amend/amendment” are better words than “modify/modification.” In other contexts, the word “change” is a more common alternative. Example Avoid “The Commission … undertook to make […]
This article series aims to eliminate usage errors and help non-native speakers to write clearly and fluently. We suggest that you always do proper research and use style guides effectively. For anything you are not sure of, feel free to ask us. Misused word do Alternatives perform, carry out, undertake. Explanation “To do” is a rather weak word: “to perform” and “to carry out” are often better. Using them also avoids the rather common confusion between “to do” and “to […]
This article series aims to eliminate usage errors and help non-native speakers to write clearly and fluently. We suggest that you always do proper research and use style guides effectively. For anything you are not sure of, feel free to ask us. Misused word inform Alternatives announce, declare, state etc.
Do you use this: % symbol, or this: percent (spelled out)? Read this article to understand Dragoman Style, which is mainly based on the AP Style Guide and enriched by Diana Hacker’s, Brian Garner’s and Strunk & White. 1. The word percent is one word. Do not use U.K. spelling, i.e., per cent. 2. Always spell out percent in paragraph content as in 30 percent, 3.5 percent, 66 percent. 3. For percents “less than 1” use zero before the decimal […]
Many of our customers fall into a trap that befalls even experienced journalists. What’s more, many readers won’t even notice the error I’m talking about. What is this error? The false range. Understandably, our customers love to highlight the broad nature of the work they do and the products they manufacture. To highlight this, they therefore often use the phrase ranging from… to, but incorrectly. A range requires “a set of objects, persons, topics or attributes within a limited set.” Yet what is […]
This article series aims to eliminate usage errors and help non-native speakers to write clearly and fluently. We suggest that you always do proper research and use style guides effectively. For anything you are not sure of, feel free to ask us. Misused word within the framework of, in the framework of Alternatives in connection with, as part of, under etc.
This article was originally published on our blog Dragosfer a couple of years ago. It focuses on how to eliminate junk words in Turkish to English translations. As part of our consolidation efforts, I wanted to include it in this knowledgebase. Avoiding junk words is a much wider topic and a good habit to acquire. We are open to publishing your articles and more tips on plain language. Turkish language is usually long winded and redundant. Translators should learn how to avoid unnecessary words […]
When using “between” to specify a date or number range, we must replace the hyphen with and. Incorrect: Demirkent served in senior executive roles between 1936-68. Correct: Demirkent served in senior executive roles between 1936 and 68. So, please do not add a hyphen between numbers or dates, if you are constructing the phrase with “between”. You may find a related article on dashes in here.