Eliminating redundancy is one of the key skills to fluency, but what is redundancy or a redundant word/phrase? If you can remove a word from a sentence without changing its [...]
Dragoman prefers to translate ideas as succinctly as possible. This means cutting superfluous nouns that add nothing to what we are trying to communicate to our readers. Translation Example 1: [...]
Dragoman uses AP Style, and AP no longer capitalizes the word internet. Incorrect: The bogus article contained a software tool that could verify Internet addresses. Correct: The bogus [...]
Behavior is almost always a mass noun and it is very rarely used in the plural. Incorrect: You must reflect on your behaviors if you want to avoid repeating your mistakes. Correct: [...]
We must always insert a semi-colon before and a comma after however to connect two independent clauses. Incorrect: Japan was an expanding giant however it could not generate enough capital [...]
Dragoman prefers "and so on" or "and so forth" to "etc." (et cetera) to show that there are many other similar things or people that we can add. However, combining [...]
When multiple adjectives each do not modify a noun separately, they are cumulative. Do not use a comma to seperate cumulative adjectives in English. This rule may be different in [...]
When multiple adjectives each modify a noun separately, they are coordinate. E.g.: We are aiming to become an agile, profitable and environmentally friendly company. Our adjectives are coordinate adjectives [...]
When you first apply for a copy-editing position at Dragoman, you might assume your job will be limited with surface errors; it will be done after correcting spelling, prepositions and some [...]
The use of left-branching sentences is a common problem in translations. Yet many translators are unaware that they are even writing them. In most cases, right-branching sentences are more appropriate and easier [...]
