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.
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.
This piece is a part of our capitalization series. Proper capitalization in English is tricky. Stay tuned with our Language Tips for more. 1. If magazine or journal is part of the title, use upper case New York Magazine Journal of the American Medical Association 2. If magazine or journal is not part of the title, use lower case Time magazine 3. Capitalize the article the if part of the title of a newspaper, magazine, or journal The Washington Post […]
Only is often misplaced in a sentence. We must be careful about its usage to avoid confusing our readers. Learning correct usage of grammatical modifiers is a hard work and it is worth all the effort. Only should go right before the word or phrase it modifies. “Only I said I cannot attend the party” means that I was the only one to decline the invitation. “I only said I cannot attend the party” means that I said nothing but […]