English: Difference between revisions

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* Avoid passive voice
* Avoid passive voice
* Avoid unnecessary details
* Avoid unnecessary details
* Set the scene progressively (step by step)
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Revision as of 16:00, 29 January 2014

Expressions

In my defense it was dark Pour ma défense il faisait noir.
Don't get your knickers in a twist/knot ~ Calm down, ne fait pas de noeuds dans tes sous-vêtements
spritzing the SKUNK with eau de cologne.
hanging garlands from the corpses' ears
People go to the site looking for things →

Things people go to the site looking for

X is 99 times more than Y, but it is 100 times that of Y.
As opposed to smthg Au contraire de qch, au lieu de qch
By my count, you have... D'après mes calculs, vous avez...

Don't say but say...

Some examples on how to say things simply and clearly

Don't say ... ... but say ...
there is still a correlation check to make sure that the OBE indeed reported that it was at the same location as the enforcement equipment and at the same time as reported by the equipment there is also a specific check of location given by OBE against location of enforcement equipment
My coin has fallen My penny dropped
The weight equals to the number the weight equals the number — or
the weight is equal to the number
fully determines the two others ones fully determines the other two
convert conditions on bits to conditions convert conditions on bits into conditions
In the light of In light of
Our first attempt to such a reference model Our first attempt at such a reference model
appeared in [4] by the name of appeared in [4] under the name of
To spend some time to refine ... To spend some time refining ...
Later we wrote our findings ... Later we wrote up — or put — our findings ...
It has success probability of at most 2^... It has success probability at most 2^...
both in the temporal as in the 1080 three spatial dimensions both in the temporal and in the 1080 three spatial dimensions
we replaced our original padding by the multi-rate padding we replaced our original padding with the multi-rate padding
Factorizing large integers Factoring large integers

(Factorizing is correct though but factoring seems better [1])

Evaluate a function for some input Evaluate a function on some input
With probability of at least 1/2 With probability at least 1/2

Spelling mistakes

Bad Good
fixed input length fixed input-length or
fixed-length input

Grammar

  • Not to or to not ?
The default construction is not to + INF (like in I decided not to go). However the split infinitive construction to not + INF seems to be allowed as well (like in I decided to not go). Note that I decided not to go is not the same as I did not decide to go!
  • half or half of?

[2], [3]

Both are usually valid (She spends half (of) her time travelling., Half (of) my friends live abroad.)
When using plurals, better specify the scope correctly (Half (of) my friends live abroad better than Half (of) friends live abroad)
half of before pronouns (Half of them)
half a usually ((half an apple is not a lot)), but a half also valid in measurements (a half pound)

Tongue Twisters

Source: [4]

Bill Badger brought the bear a bit of boiled bacon in a brown bag.
Heather was hoping to hop to Taihiti

To hack a hibiscus to hang on her hat. Now Heather has hundreds of hats on her hat rack. So how can a hop to Taihiti help that?

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.

A peck of pickled peppers Peter Piper picked. If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers, How many pickled peppers did Peter Piper pick?

Red lorry, yellow lorry
Red leather robots, yellow leather robots
Seventeen slimy slugs in shiny sombreros sat singing short sad songs.

She sells seashells by the seashore.
The shells she sells are surely seashells.
So if she sells shells on the seashore,
I'm sure she sells seashore shells.

The sixth sick sheik's sixth sheep's sick.
Six thick thistle sticks. Six thick thistles stick.
I slit a sheet, a sheet I slit. Upon this slitted sheet I sit.
Do scientists see thieves seize skies? If scientists see thieves seize skies, then where are the skies, the scientists see the thieves seize?
Thirty three thin Finns throw forty three frogs into four Thracian theatres.
The Awfullest Thistle: The successful thistle sifter, in sifting a sieve full of unsifted thistles, stuck three thousand thistles through the thick of his thumb.
Theophilus Thistle, the successful thistle sifter

In sifting a sieve full of unsifted thistles, Thrust three thousand thistles through the thick of his thumb. If Theophilus Thistle, the successful thistle sifter, Can thrust three thousand thistles through the thick of his thumb, See thou, in sifting a sieve full of unsifted thistles, Thrust not three thousand thistles through the thick of thy thumb.

Which witch winds white weasel wool well?
How Much Wood Would A Woodchuck Chuck If A Woodchuck Could Chuck Wood?
A Woodchuck Would Chuck As Much Wood As A Woodchuck Could, If A Woodchuck Could Chuck Wood.

Writing tips

  • Avoid passive voice
  • Avoid unnecessary details
  • Set the scene progressively (step by step)
AES operates on date blocks of 16 bytes.
For ease of presentation, we omit this operation here
Let .... Given ..., one can .... Conversely, given ..., one can .... Since ..., this proves the converse statement.
Then with probability at least 1/2 (over the choice of g)
Since x takes time linear in log_2 d, a small d can improve performance by at least a factor of 10.
Apply function x prior to signing.