One of the key elements of writing well is to understand the use of relative clauses. For non-native speakers, and especially for my fellow Turkish colleagues, abuse of relative [...]
This sentence has five words. Here are five more words. Five-word sentences are fine. But several together become monotonous. Listen to what is happening. This writing is getting boring. The [...]
"It is considered that (...)," "it is probable that (...)," or even worse "it is of utmost importance that (...)" Do we really need these clunky phrases? Dragoman encourages translators [...]
If you are building a bullet list in English, you also need to build a parallel construction in your bullet list. Now the source text may not always have it. This [...]
Turkish source texts often end with "vardır, sahiptir, olmaktadır, bulunmaktadır, bulunur" etc. Some translators tend to start their translations with "There is..." which is usually unnecessary. We expect Dragoman translators [...]
Notes from the Editor – May 2016 Branch to the right English is a subject-verb-object language. And it is considered a right-branching language. In right-branching sentences, the subject is described [...]
Notes from the Editor – March 2016 When to use the imperative form of a verb In some texts, for example, sets of instructions, web content, or advertising copy, it [...]
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 [...]
Never start a sentence with a figure. Write the number in words as follows: Fifty percent of the population approved the referendum. Sixty million dollars was donated to the institution. [...]
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 [...]
