Mistakes Students most often make

7/31/2019 Mistakes Students most often make

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Mistake of the Week 1

This is the first of a series of small mistakes and curiosities.

One Ive noticed a lot recently is cult

Kult vs. cult. In English cult used adjectively as in a cult novel or cult metal band means something cool, arch and edgy. A film that is hard to find in cinemas or that is

likely to offend can be a cult classic. A blockbuster staring Tom Cruise and with a

gazillion advertising dollars behind it cannot. It seems that kult is often used as a vaguesynonym for everything from classic to foreign to not bad to cool to I like it.

You might call Pulp Fiction a cult film; not so Vanilla Sky. Keep this in mind when

writing in English. (Last week, I read that Wall Street 2 just came out: Pred dnevi je vZDA premiero doivel drugi del kultnega filma... This sounds bizarre to me in English,

because if Wall Street is a cult film, what is main stream?)


This is more of a tip than a mistake.

When writing e-mails, remember the following:

1) Always use the subject line and provide a clear subject.2) Provide your name in the body of the e-mail. Occasionally I get mystery e-mails from

[email protected] and have no idea which student wrote it.3) Keep it snappy. If you have a simple question, ask it. Some student messages run to

hundreds of words when they only require a few dozen.

4) Even though e-mail tends to the informal, beginning a should-be formal message withHey, X... is too chummy.

5) If writing in English, use standard English. I think should not be i think.

The first three of these tips will save us all loads of time.


Poetess, authoress. These words are not neutral translations for pesnica and avtorica.There is almost always a sense of condescension in a phrase like She is Slovenias

leading poetess... as if female writers had their own weight category, or produced

according to different standards.

In any case, the poets name usually makes matters clear: Emily Dickinson was a poet.If the sex has to be pointed out - as in prva slovenska pesnica... opt for first Slovenianfemale poet.

Similarly, many find the word actress discriminatory. My prediction: in ten years,actress will have gone the way of authoress and poetess.



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A simple one this week:

A pedagog is not always a pedagogue. Pedagogue means a dull, formal, orpedantic teacher (Websters). The label has to be earned in English. Unless youre out

for blood that is, unless criticism is your aim Teacher or educator suffices.


(PRELUDE: TURN ON THE ENGLISH SPELLCHECK. Many assignments contain

typos that should have been avoided. Also, ENGAGE WITH THE GREEN LINE! Thegrammar suggestions are often wrong, but sometimes your computer is, in fact, correct.

Before ignoring it, at least consider the possibility that the computer might be right. Then

you can reject HALs suggestion.)

However...

We went to the store, however the shopkeeper was not there.

Why does my word processor slap a squiggly green line under that sentence?

Because it is a run-on sentence or comma splice.

When however (or therefore) is used to join clauses, you need a period or semi-

colon.

This is correct: We went to the store; however the shopkeeper was not there.

This is also correct: We went to the store. The shopkeeper, however, was not there.

This is the most common mistake (well, along with the other ones...) among advanced

Slovenian speakers and writers of English.


This is not so much a mistake as a redundancy.

I speak the Slovenian/Slovene language is usually too much information because I

speak Slovenian/Slovene suffices.

Hamlet (who was never short of words) says, Speak the speech - not Speak the

language speech.

Other than a language, what else can one speak?

If your goal is to scream emphasis or to specify, you can stretch things out to I adore the


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Sarah goes to university, while John goes shopping.

This might be understood as Sarah goes to university (every day), and John goesshopping (every day).

If while is in the first position, there is more ambiguity. Whats more, the reader mayhave to go back and re-read or re-interpret the sentence:

While Sarah goes to university, John goes shopping.

If you want to imply that John is lazy and spends too much money, write Whereas Sarah

goes to university, John goes shopping.


A confession and a reminder this week:

1) Confession: Two years ago a colleague claimed that students often write i instead ofI. I refused to believe her because no one with an inkling of English could ever make

that mistake. I was wrong.I is capitalized. Always. Even in e-mails. Please stop writing i am writing

2) Reminder: Be cautious with dictionaries, especially certain Slovenian-English ones. Tomy knowledge, paramedic is not a guy or gal parachuting to your house with a black

bag (zdravnik padalec); pretentious people can be demanding but that doesnt

make zahteven a synonym for pretenziosen. These are plain wrong.Other entries in that certain dictionary are more inventive: they simply do not exist in

English. They are fictions (admittedly, none come to mind immediately - possibly

because remembering words that do not exist is like imagining a new shade of blue).Lastly, if an English word coughed up by the dictionary sounds new or unusual to you,

verify it in another dictionary, or do a quick Google search to get a feel for the word in a

sentence.

Heres what can happen if you trust a dictionary too much:

Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.

becomes:Fugacity of fugacities, saith the Preacher, fugacity of fugacities; all is fugacity.

In other words, fugacity is a dubious entry for minljivost.

(When writing scholarly articles, its preferable NOT to cite an Advanced Learners

Dictionary. This is just a matter of cosmetics.)



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One reason Slovenian sentences or Slovenian-minded sentences rendered into English -

that is to say, sentences that sound like a translation from Slovenian even if the grammarand the vocabulary are fine - stretch into eternity (or is it infinity?) is the love of

synonyms, of like-meaning words, of words that have essentially the same purpose.

Thats why my first sentence stinks. Its too long, especially because the last three

phrases are dull synonyms.

Each of these examples is too wordy:

A) Here one see that the narrator is full of bliss, is happy, is truly in a fine and healthilypositive state of mind.

These phrases all say the same thing:

1) is full of bliss

2) is happy3) is truly in a fine...

We get the point; lets move on!

B) He is engaged in an occupation, is in the process of working, is carrying out hisgainful employment.

If you want to drive home a point or clarify, write:

...is engaged in an occupation, is carrying out his gainful employment.

In other words, repeat your important point once. Saying the same thing in three different

ways borders on insult, or sounds like high-flown rhetoric.

Lastly, if you think you need to stretch out a phrase or clarify that phrase, ask yourself ifit was clear enough in the first place.


Note the two instances of Slovenglish here:

There is a habit among male and female students that they help each other with their

assignments or actually do them instead of them.

Did you spot the two instances?

1) that is overused among students (I dont mean as a simple pronoun); each time youopt for that in a sentence like this, see if that can be replaced by a gerund or an

infinitive construction:


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a) There is a habit among male and female students OF HELPING

b) The habit among male and female students is TO HELP

These structures are trickier to produce than the Slovenglish THAT + subject + verb, but

they are generally more correct and always more idiomatic than the Slovenglish

alternative.

2) Can you make sense of the messy pronoun references in do them instead of them.

Who is helping whom with what (which would be clear as mud in Slovenian)? No onewants to spend five second figuring out what the antecedents are.

Make it easy on the reader by:

a) stretching things out: or the BOYS actually do the assignments instead of the GIRLS(note that the former and the latter often does not aid clarity; use synonyms to avoid

redundancy)

b) using clearer language in the first place: among male students of helping or

actually doing assignments for female students.


1) This is Slovenglish (as Im sure you all know):As it can be seen, the author could not spell.

So is this:

As it has already been explained, the author had trouble spelling.

The it should be dropped:

CORRECT: As can be seen, the author could not spell.CORRECT: As has already been explained, the author had trouble spelling.

2) There seems to be some confusion between base and basis.This is wrong: The base for Johns theory of chocolate is that it should be

brown.This is not: The BASIS for Johns theory...

Some argue that base is literal and something you can touch, whereas basis isfigurative - which is a good BASIS for remembering the difference.

I suggest doing a few google searches (including quotation marks, and preferablyin google.books to weed out the rough linguistic stuff) to get a feel for the

differences.

The basis of the matter - c. 55 mil. hits - rather a lot for a dull phrase.

The base of the matter - c. 18 mil. hits - more than enough to convince your

teacher that both are acceptable.

You might note the balance or ratio of hits and side with the majority:

The basis of the decision - c. 80 mil. hits

The base of the decision - c. 3 mil. hits


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ORIGINAL WITH COMMENTS:

You can take one piece of hand baggage into the cabin with you; maximum dimensions

are 56 x 45 x 25cm. Hand bags, briefcases, laptops and laptop bags are all counted as one

piece [A COMMA WOULD BE LOVELY HERE] so if you have a hand bag and alaptop bag for example, youll be asked to pay a charge to put one in the hold, [A FULL-

STOP IS REQUIRED HERE. BESIDES, THIS MONSTER SENTENCE NEEDS A

BREAK] therefore you might want to consider putting one inside the other. We dont dothis just because we can [NOTE THE SUPERFLUOUS QUOTATION MARKS] but

because it makes sense.

For example: weve all seen how the increased amount of hand baggage has led to lack of

space in overhead lockers so by limiting it we make it fair for everybody by ensuring that

there is a good chance everyone can bring a bag onboard; [I HAVE NO IDEA WHY

THIS IS A SEMI-COLON]

Its quicker to get through security with fewer bags Youll be quicker on and off the plane

We can get you to your destination on time[] It will delay yours [sic] and everyone elses journey! [PERHAPS THEY WILL

ANNOUNCE, ENJOY yours FLIGHT!]


Todays howler is a fine example of a circular explanation. This sentence moves about as

far forward as a dog chasing its tail:

The research project Transnational Identity and Diasporic Citizenship in CanadianLiterary Texts focuses on exploring the concepts of transnational identity, diasporiccitizenship, transnationalism in literary texts written by Canadian authors.

(Sadly, this is a real example. More sadly, it was not written by a student.)

While this is extreme, circular definitions are a common problem among students. Make

sure that your explanatory sentence doesnt circle back on itself - that is, that the thoughtmoves forward as you explain or clarify your ideas.

Consider these examples of what NOT to do:

1) The utter lack of light in the poem indicates darkness.

(This a truism; youre informing the reader that it gets dark when you turn out the lights.)

2) Considering the main theme of the novel, we see its central conceptual idea.


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(This is just a series of abstract synonyms; we still have no clue what the theme or

idea might be. Because this sentence is empty, we need more words.)

It might be useful to check for synonyms at the start and end of the sentence. If you findthem, chances are good that youve gone nowhere.

3) The CANINE comparison makes one think of the protagonist as something of a

DOG.

It also helps the reader if the entire sentence doesnt hinge on one word:

4) The novels protagonist is very ERUDITE, and she has clearly gained this

ERUDITION by means of an autodidactic life with books.

Something like this is easier on the reader, who may not know the word erudite, and

fresher:

The novels protagonist is very LEARNED, and she has clearly gained this

ERUDITION by means of a autodidactic life with books.

Note that this differs from the CANINE/DOG example. Why? Because this sentenceexplains how the novels protagonist became learned, rather than merely re-stating that

she is well-read.


The phrase such as, for example is clunky and redundant. Use one or the other, but

not both. Occasionally one sees them side-by-side. More frequently one sees themsandwiching a list, like this:

There are many good authors here, such as X, Y, and Z, for example.

(Perhaps we forget that such as tells you the list is not exhaustive and we want to

emphasize this.)

Correct:

There are many good authors here, such as X, Y, and Z.or

There are many good authors here; for example, X, Y, and Z.


Two tips this week

1) Many advanced speakers and writers of English love the phrase be it X or Y. I do

too. It sounds classy, and the old-fashioned subjunctive (conditional?) baffles Words

green-eyed grammar sleuth. But it look ridiculous - that is, you look ridiculous - if youopt for the subjunctive and botch the numerus.


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A negative example:

Many dictionaries, be it monolingual or bilingual, are...

Thats wrong. Because dictionaries is plural, the pronoun must also be plural (Nobody

would dream of writing: The cows, it comes home!).

Correct:

Many dictionaries, be THEY monolingual or bilingual, are...

For those who like complicated structures:

Many a dictionary, be it monolingual or bilingual, is...

2) In general, avoid using an image or figurative language to explain another image.

Why? Because it can easily lead to a confusing mess of pictures in the readers brain.

This is a particular problem if you choose a vague image, or a clich.

Example:

When King Lear refers to his pelican daughters, it is clear HE CANNOT SEE THE

LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL.

The vague phrase about a light and a tunnel does nothing to explain what youve quoted,what this bit about bird-like daughters could mean.

In some cases it looks like the student has no idea what the image represents, though

s/hes sure its worth mentioning. This is the essay equivalent of the Hail Mary play in

American football - throw the football/quotation out there and hope!

The following is clearer because you show the reader exactly what you are thinking:When King Lear refers to his pelican daughters, it is clear HE FEELS HOPELESS.

Another (invented) example:

Linguists refer to this as fruitful common ground, because we can BROADEN OUR

HORIZONS.

Imagine a reader that cant figure out the phrase common ground. What help is your

image?

Better:

Linguists refer to this as fruitful common ground, because we ALL LEARN FROM

THE CONVERSATION.

To be clear: I do not mean that you should avoid concrete images in your essays. Arguing

your point in solely abstract terms, and piling abstraction upon abstraction, is one-wayticket to essay boredom. (A topic for another day.)


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...and please, please, lay off broadening horizons and light at the end of the tunnel.

They are over-used phrases.


Heres a battle Im losing: to beg the question is often used incorrectly.

The expression to beg the question means to mess up the logic in an argument by

merely assuming something to be true, rather than taking the time to prove it.

This is begging the question: Banning long sleeved shirts during exams will stop

students from hiding cheat-sheets under the sleeves. The argument assumes that studentsare cheating in that manner.

More and more often, to beg the question is used as a synonym for to raise the

question, and the lovely precision of the real meaning is lost. This is like suddenly andarbitrarily deciding that wrenches/spanners will be called hammers.

I and perhaps half a dozen octogenarians are bothered by this.

(A better explanation of the fallacy is available at:

http://www.logicalfallacies.info/presumption/begging-the-question/)


Whats wrong with this sentence (changed only slightly from a very good writers text):

Not all of the states are on board, and neither CIC nor CBSA appears not to give a

damn, since in the state where abuse is most extensive they refuse to meet with non-governmental organizations that serve and advocate for immigrants.

There are too many negatives.

Here are the negatives highlighted:

NOT all of the states are on board, and NEITHER CIC NOR CBSA appears NOT to

give a damn, since in the state where trafficking is most extensive they refuse to meetwith NON-governmental organizations that serve and advocate for trafficked

immigrants.

The adjective NON-governmental is clear, but after all the NOTs, the NEITHERs and

the NORs, it is an unfortunate addition. Note, too, that the verb refuse also adds an airof negation, further obscuring the meaning.


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Double-negators, like smokers and compulsive coffee-drinkers, are convinced that the

dangers apply only to other people (I am not unguilty here). The most obvious perils of

double negation are:1) lack of clarity (see above example!)

2) a positive sentence bogged down by extra words

I am not saying that I am not not going is confusing because the reader has to cut awaythe NOTs (since only in grammar do two negatives equal a positive).

3) and a sense of reserve or reticence.

I am not unattracted to you! is a good way of accidentally nipping a second date in thebud.

If you catch a series of negatives in your writing, ask yourself if it can be replaced by asingle adjective or simpler construction:

My dog is not unintelligent.

My dog is stupid.

Depending on your dog, you may decide stupid is too harsh. In that case, leave the

negative.

He is not an unreserved type.

He is a gregarious/an outgoing type.

Perhaps we lose irony (litotes?) here, but keep in mind that much irony is lost when

printed rather than guided by intonation.

There are benefits, too, but I wont lead you into temptation and, besides, you already

know them sometimes reserve is exactly what we want to express.

A rule of thumb: the closer the two negatives, the easier it is to translate them into a

positive. I am not unhappy is easier than I am not saying that despite all that I have

gone through in the recent past I am unhappy.


Comma placement. A horrible topic in English (at least once you get past the commas

that good grammar demands , such as ..., which...).

Optional commas often add clarity but kill flow.

Clear but plodding:In 1989, when the Wall fell, and many East Germans saw the West for the first time,

great changes were in store for Europe, because it meant the end of the Cold War.

A great flowing mess:

In 1989 when the Wall fell and many East Germans saw the West for the first time great


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changes were in store for Europe because it meant of the end of the Cold War.

Heres a rule of thumb: if you have more than three words qualifying the sentence, a

comma aids clarity.

No comma needed:

In 2010 the World Cup was held in South Africa.

Comma, please:

In the summer months of 2010, the World Cup was held in South Africa.

Bear in mind (not bare) that no two editors agree on comma placement. Reading your

sentences aloud and trusting your ear is the best bet.


Look at what the comma does to this sentence (a real example I came across in a book Ireviewed last week):

Soon we were flying by endless acres of sunflower fields, shining in the afternoon sun.

This is surely about shining sunflowers rather than shiny, happy people. Blame the

comma.

Perhaps you can argue that this sentence is not grammatically wrong; definitely you can

argue that - grammar be hanged! - the meaning remains obvious (since most people donot shine).

Decide for yourself. Is the sentence wrong? a disaster? overly complicated due to the

comma? unclear? in need of two more words (which were shining...)?


Just three dangerous phrases this week. None of the following is necessarily wrong, but

you should nevertheless be careful with: 1) together with; 2) get the feeling; 3) adifferent perspective.

1) Together with is a very popular expression among Slovenian writers - presumably

because it is a direct translation of skupaj s.

Very often, a mere and would do the trick:

Together with Sally, she went...

Isnt She and Sally went... much simpler?

If you want to emphasise togetherness, consider:a) She, along with Sally, went...


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b) Both she and Sally went...

2) Get the feeling is a weak phrase in essays or whenever you are making an argument.

I get the feeling here that... is a synonym for gee, I dunno, I just kinda sense that...

That wont stand up as evidence in court or in an essay.Worse, it draws attention to your vagueness of argument!

(For the bluffers: Instead of In this scene, I get the feeling he is nuts..., write, Thisscene provides a hint of insanity... or This scene implies the possibility of lunacy...)

3) A different perspective is both overused and vague.If your significant other says, I have decided to consider our relationship from a

different perspective, you have to wait to find out exactly what the meaning and

consequences of that perspective are (more vacation time? moving in? moving out?).

Often writers do not qualify the different perspective, leaving the essay-graderconfused.

You can write from a different, more optimistic, perspective, but why not avoid thehackneyed phrase and simply say more optimistically?


The whole Slovenia and the entire Slovenia cause problems (though nowhere near as

many back-translations do).

The whole of Slovenia and the entirety of Slovenia are grammatically correct, but,unless you are emphasizing each and every centimetre of Slovenia, they often soundoverblown (just as saying, Do you speak the English language? sounds pedantic and

verbose because Do you speak English? suffices).

All of Slovenia is sometimes ambiguous. Does it refer to every person in Slovenia?

Does it refer to the territory? Is there a particular need for emphasis?

Slovenia as a whole (not Slovenia as a hole) and Slovenia in its entirety are stilted

but correct possibilities.

Very often, unqualified, un-proceeded, un-adjectivised Slovenia is the simplestsolution.



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Unless humour or suspense is your goal, avoid using three synonymous adjectives of

intensification that is, dont say the same thing in three ways:

The hero had dreamed of becoming a lawyer ever since he was just a tiny little boy.

Here ever since, just, tiny, and little all qualify boy. We get the point alreadyafter ever since namely, that the hero had been dreaming of lawyerdom for ages.

The rest of the sentence makes us wait for a climax that isnt a real climax because we

already know whats coming (after all, the sentence cantend in old man).

This is easier on the reader because it saves time and space:

The hero had dreamed of becoming a lawyer ever since he was a little boy.

(Note that in literature such delaying is a brilliant and cheap and fun! way of buildingsuspense, as long as the reader cant anticipate what comes at the end of the sentence. A

fictional example: Walking down the street, I saw an enormous, humungous,

gargantuan, massive, elephantine, and big statue.)

Of course, if the adjectives point out different aspects, by all means, use them and payattention to their order (usually saving the best/worst for last):

The hero had dreamed of becoming a lawyer ever since he was a snivelling, rotten, rich,

spoiled, hairless little boy.

This is a superb site for those who mix up theirbears and bares, and theirblocks andblocs:

http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/errors.html#errors


A small, annoying, and awful-looking mistake this week.

You may count the ways this is incorrect; you may count them because you know them:

written by a Dutch author Cees Nooteboom

This is a major error, one made more egregious by its frequency and tenacity even amongstudents of English. Please stop

These phrases are correct and logical:

a) written by THE Dutch author Cees Nooteboom (there's only one)

b) written by a Dutch author, Cees Nooteboom, (note the difference the commas make)


If you want to express unreserved or enthusiastic praise, be careful with these

expressions:

1) manage to

2) far from being


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1) Manage to... implies that something is done against expectations and is thus often

use sarcastically:

My little brother managed to eat his lunch without spitting it out.

That sentences oozes non-confidence in your sibling's table manners.

With that in mind, does this sound like convincing praise?

William Shakespeare manages to portray a convincing love story.

Nope. It sounds like a synonym for Everywhere else, Shakespeare mucks up love

stories, but here - miraculously - he doesn't.

2) A hallmark of irony is indirectness, and far from being is often a useful for

producing irony. This phrase is similar to negatively-expressed praise such as notunintelligent and not unattractive - the reader sniffs a but...

Far from being boring, the play is interesting sounds tepid. Why not say it directly?

Why the need to focus on the negative?

If minor or nuanced praise is your aim, by all means be indirect. But be aware that this isnot the way to praise your brother's fine cooking (From from being lousy, your pastawas edible.)


(This is a follow-up to the previous post about misfiring when praising).

Many, many, many concert leaflets, book reviews, and diploma theses include tepid

sentences like

Margaret Atwood is widely regarded as being Canada's finest writer.

This particular statement is true to the point of being a truism, but there are also three

other minor problems:

1) Many, many, many concert leaflets... In other words, the is regarded is rendered dull

through repetition. It begins to sound like the essayist couldn't think of any other way ofstarting.

2) Note the distance established through is regarded... This is like saying it is NOT my

opinion, and it is akin to using the passive voice to shift blame or responsibility away

from yourself. It's as if you're saying, Well, other people say I'm supposed to like this...

3) Because is regarded... sounds distanced, I often expect an opposing statement tofollow - that is, I expect the reader to follow up with a firm, personal stance:

Margaret Atwood is widely regarded as being Canada's finest writer, BUT HERREPUTATION IS BASED MORE ON HER PERSONA THAN HER ACTUALWRITING.

Margaret Atwood is Canada's finest writer is far more lively because there is clearly a

human being, a personality, a strong voice and opinion, behind the statement.

Imagine an argument:

You: Margaret Atwood is widely regarded as being Canada's finest writer.


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Me: She's not Canada's finest writer.

You: I didn't say she was. I said, she 'is widely regarded as...'


The number one problem with most essays and arguments is vagueness.

Here's an illustrative anecdote:

A few weeks ago, I asked a colleague from abroad to submit an article for a journal I edit.She kindly agreed. Her first response was, I will submit the article in 10-14 days.

About a week later, she said, I will submit the article in due course. [End of anecdote]

I got worried. Why?

In 10-14 days is banal, but gorgeously concrete.

In due course sounds lovely, will snap up some extra points for vocabulary, but sayslittle. Here I fear it's a synonym for I have no clue when I will submit it.

Slovenian seems to have a greater tolerance for abstraction - and the first time I came

across the phrase zaradi objektivnih razlogov, I thought it was a joke because no reason

is given!

Here is Mavis Gallant on the difference between continental (all right, French)conversation and English:

The French taste for abstraction sails close to rhetoric and can sound false or insincere to

an English-speaking listener, while a conversation in English, with its succession ofillustrative anecdotes that take their departure from a point, rather than lead to one, soon

bores a mind trained in French.

Keep specificity in view even when writing essays. In literature essays, provide plenty ofdirect quotations.

(To return to my anecdote, this would be more convincing or at least less moribund:LAST MONDAY, I asked a colleague from ALASKA to submit an article for THE

CENTRAL EUROPEAN JOURNAL OF LONG-WINDED ESSAYS...)


When writing essays and articles, you can almost always avoid the future tense.

You can replace The article will show... and This essay shall reveal... with the

present simple: The article shows... and This essay reveals...

This is more than a mere convention because the future tense screams Not yet! - that is,

each time you speak of arguments and examples to come, you remind the reader that youressay hasn't really started.


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It very soon becomes tedious to read The article shall show...[p.1]....This point will be

explained [p. 3]...We shall consider [p. 5]. It is tedious because the essay spends its time

looking to the future and thus like explaining a party that you are planning, withoutinviting the listener to the party.


This week: two word issues, a note from Miss Manners, and a booming request.

1) pursue after drop the after, which is superfluous.

2) Note the difference between to stress and to stress out. The first means to

emphasize, the second means you're looking for medicinal aid to calm you down.

3) Interrupting. This very often sounds a lot worse in English than in Slovenian. That's it

in a nutshell. The irony here is that the better your English is (or sounds), the lessforgiving people will be if you cut them off mid-sentence. They'll assume you're up to

speed on conversational conventions as well as accent, grammar, and vocabulary.

4) Please stop plagiarising. I emphasize this because it stresses me out when I correct halfan assignment, then suddenly encounter another voice. Do know how easy it is to notice a

change of tone or voice: imagine Adi Smolar taking over mid-song from Justin Bieber

and you get the idea. In other words, the give-away for plagiarised passages is notgrammatical accuracy or even vocabulary but a sudden shift in the assignments

personality.


Certain words and formulations are not wrong per se but overuse makes them sound

wrong to English ears. The finest example is probably namely in English, which occursfar less frequently than namre in Slovenian.

Another example is In the continuation... - as in In the continuation of the poem,Keats notes...

Here's pudding-proof:in the continuation of the novel - 5 google hits.

v nadaljevanju romana - 119 google hits.

If you are tempted to write in the continuation of, see if a simple adverb will suffice.

Slovenglish:In the continuation of the novel, the hero dies.

Simplified (and, yes, duller!):The hero then/later dies


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Adverbs such as sadly and unfortunately often look comical in critical essays.

This is particularly the case when they are placed at the start of a sentence, casting their

shadow of mood over the rest of your statement.

Consider these examples:

Sadly, the horrific effects of the war were soon felt.

Unfortunately, the woefully ineffective governmental policies destroyed all cultural

projects.

Sadly and unfortunately tell the reader how s/he should respond (with sadness and a

sense of the unfortunate!); this is pedantic because phrases like horrific effects andwoefully ineffective already make your stance clear and, by extension, how you feel

the reader should respond. There's also a hint that you think the reader is daft or

emotionally cold, that s/he has to be told how to interpret your sentence.

This is not a call to ban the words sadly and unfortunately (and happily and

fortunately). Rather, see if you can choose your words in a manner that renders theseadverbs redundant.

Before:

Sadly, the result was not positive.

After:

The result was catastrophic in economic terms.


Two phrases that creep into English are nothing special and it is high time.

Though these phrases obviously exist in English, they are overused by students. There arealso other omniscient issues with them:

Nothing special is fairly relaxed, and also vague. That poem is nothing special saysonly that you don't like the poem. It does not point out how the poem achieves its

ordinariness.

It is high time often sounds more rhetorical and moralistic in English than it does inSlovenian. Whenever I read it, I envision an ancient orator imploring us to change our

lives for the better.


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Is there anything duller than reading instructions? Probably not; but do read the

instructions when you write a test or produce an essay.

If the essay handout says, 400-500 words, don't hand in 1200.

If the test says, Use complete sentences, you should use complete sentences.If there is a list of tips or guidelines attached (such as write in paragraphs, underlineyour thesis, or avoid basing your argument on 'I believe' or 'I think'), it's wise to adhere

to them.

To belabour the point: when students ignore the advice given, it seems like misguided

rebellion rather than mere carelessness. It's also embarrassing (Jason, why did you

change the assignment? was a low point of my student career).


This is not a mistake but something that begins to look wrong after a while because it isso common:

Have you ever noticed how many Slovenian titles have the form Between X and Y (i.e.

Med X in Y?).

Often this quest for edginess and originality creeps into English. Regardless of what Xand Y are, such titles can look hackneyed because there are so many books and articles

with the same structure.

It's like the German _______: Land der Gegenstze (_____: A Land of Opposites),which is used for every country on earth, from Israel, to Slovenia, to Brazil, to Cameroon,

to Canada, to ... fill in the blank.


You'll surely recognize this ironic opening sentence of a famous 19th century novel:

It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune,

must be in want of a wife.

(Please, please ignore that old-fashioned comma before that)

A similar structure with is thought or is considered often leads to unintentional irony

where praise was the intent:

Jane Austen is thought to be a great novelist... suggests that you, however, disagree.

Cormac McCarthy is considered to be America's leading novelist can suggest that you

have no opinion on the matter and are merely repeating what others say.


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This is like saying, Well, I learned from Wikipedia that our guest is famous. Actually,

I'd never heard of her.

The phrase is known (or is considered, etc.) can sound like bluffing or a truism:

BLUFFING:

She is known to be a famous poet (NOT poetess). Known by whom?

TRUISM:

Obama is known to be the president of the USA. Is there any need for is known?


A very short one this week:

1) I must say I find I must say stilted and old-fashioned in essays:I must say that Yeats is indeed a fine poet.

It must be said is usually just as awkward, and very often pretentious-sounding.


1) Only...what does it mean?Starting a sentence with only can lead to ambiguity:

It is clear that Simon loves Kungunda. Only Kunigunda refuses to be loved byhim.

Does the second mean:a) Kunigunda is the sole person...

b) Alas, tragedy of tragedies for Simon...

Perhaps:

Although it is clear that Simon loves Kunigunda, Kunigunda refuses to be loved

by him.

2) The following example is how NOT to divide an essay. These are the number

of words in the first few paragraphs of a lengthy paper I have to proofread (by aleading academic - so it's not a rookie mistake):

Paragraph one: 832Paragraph two: 890

Paragraph three: 757


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Paragraph four: twenty-nine (yup, just 29 words)

Paragraph five: 338

Paragraph six: 1688 (well, we did have two paragraphs to restore ourselves, no?)

Strive for paragraph balance.


Here's a classic case of wordiness:

In the 90s of the previous century...

Simpler, and clearer: In the 1990s...

of the previous century... can almost always be chopped, unless you want to say, in

the last few decades of the previous century.

You decide which is more horrific-sounding:

in the last few decades of the previous century....

in the 1970s, 80s and 90s....


Punctuation. Yuck.

1) Students have the greatest difficulties with the colon, the dash, and the semi-colon.

COLON: like a loud cravat, it yells that an example or summary is about to follow

DASH: interrupts and moves in another direction; do not use it when you really need a

colon (such as when introducing quotations in a literature essay)

SEMI-COLON: somewhere between a period and a comma. Slovenians avoid it like theplague (unless mistaking it for a colon)

Note the use of the colon in this sentence:

In the new sandwich shop, customers were licking their lips and salivating like floppy-

jowled dogs at what was behind the glass: bagels.

A DASH would send a different message, one of moving in another direction. A dash

would be odd here because it's so obvious that the sentence is moving to a culmination.

What food is in that glass case?!

A SEMI-COLON is just wrong.


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2) Punctuation in English is generally a royal pain but I'll try to explain...

Punctuation in English is generally a royal pain, but I'll try to explain...

Punctuation in English is generally a royal pain; but I'll try to explain...

Punctuation in English is generally a royal pain. But I'll try to explain...

Punctuation in English is generally a royal pain (but I'll try to explain...).

Punctuation in English is generally a royal pain but I'll try to explain...

These sentences differ in tone and attitude (note the vague terms; punctuation is slippery

in English), and each sentence sends a slightly different message about both the difficulty

of and attitudes toward the task:

1) (nothing) Oh, it's not so hard to explain punctuation. I'll just steam along to theexplanation.

2) (comma) It's not so hard, but a half-breath is needed before I begin.

3) (semi-colon) A full breath is needed.

3) (period) A huge break for breath and strength-lending sandwich is needed. Beginning a

sentence with but? That means you want the reader to pay attention!

4) (brackets) We're almost whispering here (and putting the focus on punctuation, ratherthan my attempt to explain).

5) (dash) Moving off in a different direction - like when we shift to another

conversational topic.

These are not useful rules, but they might raise your awareness of the subtle differencesoptional punctuation makes in a sentence. The first step to taming punctuation isacknowledging that colons and commas and dashes do mean something.


I'm sure you've no time for long explanations. This is good, because I have no clue whythis mistake occurs:

The interpretation of the poem is crucial in such undertaking.

Did you catch it? Here's another one:

In such city, smog is to be expected.

You must use an indefinite article after such.


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These are correct:

The interpretation of the poem is crucial in such AN undertaking.

In such A city, smog is to be expected.

Documents

Mistakes Students most often make