Common%20English%20Mistakes%20and%20How%20to%20Avoid%20Them

1
Common English Mistakesand How to Avoid Them

• Patrick Fleisch
• Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics

2
Goals of This Presentation

• Help you avoid some of the mistakes that Chinese
  writers make very often
• Give you a better understanding of the
  complications of the English language
• Improve your scientific English
• Give you some English tips
• Get your feedback

3
Verb Tenses
Part I Common Mistakes

• Past Tense
• Description of the materials/methods used in the
  experiment
• Attributing work to another author
• Present Tense
• Background/accepted information
• Description of figures
• Discussion of results and drawing conclusions

4
Verb Tenses (cont.)
Part I Common Mistakes

• Example 1
• Incorrect has been shown in Fig. 1.
• Correct is shown in Fig. 1.
• Example 2
• Incorrect are impregnated over silica
  particles
• Correct were impregnated over silica
  particles

5
the and a
Part I Common Mistakes

• This is often a difficult distinction to make
  even when you know the rules.
• Always use the when referring to something
  specific or previously mentioned in the paper.
• Use a
• Talking about a general class of something
• Mentioning something for the first time
• Singular count nouns

6
the and a (cont.)
Part I Common Mistakes

• Examples
• Based on the previous research mentioned above
• The resulting membranes had a somewhat lower
  permeance than the ones prepared
• During the 10-hour stable run time
• Ethyl nitrite first dissociates into an adsorbed
  ethoxy radical

7
Active vs. Passive Voice
Part I Common Mistakes

• Passive voice is sometimes appropriate, but
  should not be used often.
• If the sentence can be rewritten with the subject
  performing the action, do it!
• Example
• Active I ate all the dumplings
• Passive All the dumplings were eaten by me.

8
Active vs. Passive Voice (cont.)
Part I Common Mistakes

• More recently, a new catalyst system for the
  synthesis of higher alcohols was designed by
  introducing FT-elements (Fe, Co, Ni, etc.) to a
  CuMnZrO2 catalyst.
• In the 1980s, the interest in the direct
  conversion of methane to methanol was renewed by
  the energy crisis and the demand for the
  efficient utilization of abundant natural gas
  reserves.

9
Sentence Length
Part I Common Mistakes

• Look at each sentence individually to determine
  whether it is too long or too short.
• Too short try to combine two adjacent sentences
  using a conjunction
• Too long look for conjunctions in the sentence
  and split the sentence at those conjunctions

10
Sentence Length (cont.)
Part I Common Mistakes

• Example
• Original The crystal species were characterized
  by XRD. The morphology of the supports subjected
  to crystallization was characterized by SEM.
• Modified The crystal species were characterized
  by XRD, and the morphology of the supports
  subjected to crystallization was characterized by
  SEM.

11
Sentence Length (cont.)
Part I Common Mistakes

• Particularly bad example
• The result of measurement of the apparent
  activation energy predicted that doping of a
  minor amount of the CNTs into the CuiZnjAlk did
  not alter the reaction pathway of hydrogenation
  of CO/CO2 to form methanol, however, led to a
  considerable increase in the active Cu surface
  area of the catalyst and pronounced enhance of
  the stationary-state concentration of active
  hydrogen-adspecies on the surface of the
  functioning catalyst, as well as 1020 degrees
  dropping down of optimum operation temperature
  required for methanol synthesis all these would
  contribute considerably to an increase in
  reaction activity of methanol synthesis.

12
Sentence Length (cont.)
Part I Common Mistakes

• Improved
• Measurements of the apparent activation energy
  predict that doping of a minor amount of CNTs
  into the CuiZnjAlk does not alter the
  hydrogenation of CO/CO2 reaction pathway to form
  methanol. However, this did lead to a
  considerable increase in the active Cu surface
  area of the catalyst and a pronounced enhancement
  of the stationary-state concentration of active
  hydrogen-adspecies on the surface of the
  functioning catalyst. In addition, the optimum
  operating temperature required for methanol
  synthesis drops 1020 degrees. All these factors
  greatly contribute to the increase in the
  methanol synthesis reaction activity.

13
And and But
Part I Common Mistakes

• Dont begin a sentence using the word and or
  but.
• This construction almost always indicates that a
  sentence belongs in a combination with the
  previous sentence or that the first word can be
  removed.
• Supports with a high surface area produced high
  Co dispersions and highly active FT catalysts.
  And The nature of the higher hydrocarbons

14
Multiple Adjectives
Part I Common Mistakes

• adjective1, adjective2 noun
• Both adjectives modify the noun.
• Put and between the two adjectives to test if
  you need a comma.
• The friendly, helpful English teacher
• adjective1-adjective2 noun
• Adjective1 modifies adjective2 and that phrase
  modifies the noun.
• World-wide web

15
Multiple Adjectives
Part I Common Mistakes

• adjective1 adjective2 noun
• Adjective2 modifies the noun (creating a noun
  phrase) and adjective1 modifies that phrase.
• Linear low-density polyethylene
• Stainless-steel fluidized-bed reactor

16
i.e. vs. e.g.
Part I Common Mistakes

• i.e. means in other words or that is use it
  when you are trying to clarify a portion of a
  sentence
• e.g. means for example this is always used
  followed by a list of one (and often more) things
  used as an example

17
Number vs. Amount
Part I Common Mistakes

• Number is always used with something that can
  be counted.
• The number of water molecules
• Amount is used with something that can be
  measured.
• The amount of water
• Example
• the conversion of methanol is determined by the
  amount of acidic sites - wrong

18
Other Mistakes
Part I Common Mistakes

• What word comes after increase?
• of is for an amount an increase of 35
• in is for the thing that is increasing an
  increase in selectivity
• Removing extra instances of increase
• the water content increases with increasing
  temperature
• the water content increases with the
  temperature
• Instead of the content of the O was 2 say the
  O content was 2.

19
Other Mistakes (cont.)
Part I Common Mistakes

• Be careful when you use the word of. It can
  often be eliminated by changing the order.
• surface atoms of copper and nickel enriched
  during the crystallization
• with a ratio of O/H of 2

20
Simplicity
Part II General Tips

• Make something difficult sound easy!
• Dont use 10 words when 1 will do.
• Sentences that start with It is obvious that,
  It can be seen that, or It is evident that
  are a telltale sign that you are using too many
  words.
• It was found that Only manganese and tin oxides
  were stable

21
Repeated Words
Part II General Tips

• Some papers use a single word or phrase (shows,
  etc.) many times in the same sentence.
• Use a thesaurus (http//thesaurus.reference.com)
  to find words that mean the same thing.
• Change the structure of some sentences to
  introduce variety.

22
Reading Over A Paper
Part II General Tips
1) Read each sentence individually
2) Read each paragraph as a whole
3) Check the entire paper
23
Flow
Part II General Tips

• Find a partner and read your paper aloud to them.
• Are there any strange breaks or pauses?
• Things that are awkward to say?
• Might be difficult at first.

24
Reading and Vocabulary
Part III Improve Your English

• Keep a vocabulary book!
• Read online news (http//news.google.com)
• Browse the web
• http//www.nationalgeographic.com/ngm/
• http//slashdot.org/
• http//www.wired.com/
• http//www.scientificamerican.com/
• Many more just look around
• Read scientific journals for the English

25
Speaking and Understanding
Part III Improve Your English

• Watch English TV (CCTV 9)
• Go and buy DVD/VCDs and try to watch them without
  the subtitles!
• Listen to English Audio/Video streams on the
  internet
• http//news.yahoo.com/ (click onAudio/Video)
• http//www.cartalk.cars.com/Radio/Show/
  (hilariously funny weekly radio show)
• http//www.npr.org/ (great news radio site)
• Try to find a language partner

26
Thank You

• I welcome any comments you might have about this
  presentation (pfleisch_at_dicp.ac.cn)
• This entire presentation is available on the web
  at http//pfleisch.dicp.ac.cn/presentation/