This page collects several of the most common writing errors that I have noticed in papers, reports and theses. Many are related to incorrect translation from German (or other languages) to English.

Never say "allows to" again

Never use the expressions "allows to", "helps to", "requires to" etc. Each of these expressions requires a direct object.

Wrong: "This allows to easily spot errors."

Right: "This allows us to easily spot errors."

Wrong: "These debuggers help to solve difficult problems."

Right: "These debuggers help developers to solve difficult problems."

"Who" vs. "which" and "that"

Who refers to people. Which and that refer to groups and things.

Wrong: "We identify developers that have the appropriate expertise."

Right: "We identify developers who have the appropriate expertise."

"Which" vs. "that"

Use that for restrictive clauses and which for non-restrictive clauses. The acid test is: if you can remove the clause and it still makes sense, use which, otherwise use that.

Wrong: "Dynamic slicing analyzes an actual program run, that means it analyzes the program trace."

Right: "Dynamic slicing analyzes an actual program run, which means it analyzes the program trace." (You can remove the whole "which ..." and it makes sense.)

No comma before "that"

In German, you must put a comma before "dass". Not in English.

Wrong: "The log message confirms, that comparing pthread with == is not portable."

Right: "The log message confirms that comparing pthread with == is not portable."

Basically, use commas in English only if leaving them out would lead to ambiguity.

Don’t join sentences with commas

In German you can join clauses with commas; in English you must make them separate sentences, or you may join them with colons ( : ), semi-colons ( ; ), dashes (—), or conjunctions (and ...).

Wrong: "RetroVue is another commercial back-in-time debugger, it implements the most common functions."

Right: "RetroVue is another commercial back-in-time debugger; it implements the most common functions."

"Amount" vs. "number"

"Amount" refers to an indiscrete quantity; "number" refers to a discrete quantity.

Wrong: "Testing can take a long time, depending on the amount of differences between versions."

Right: "Testing can take a long time, depending on the number of differences between versions."

"Little" vs. "few"

"Little" refers to size; "few" refers to number.

Wrong: "The programmer only has to do little, but necessary, steps."

Right: "The programmer only has to do few, but necessary, steps."

"Its" vs. "it’s"

It’s really simple: "it’s" = "it is".

Wrong: "If its void, then there are no versions committed yet."

Right: "If it’s void, then there are no versions committed yet."

"A" vs. "an"

Use "a" if the first letter of the following word is pronounced as a consonant.

Wrong: "A historical view of an UML diagram is better than a XML document."

Right: "An historical view of a UML diagram is better than an XML document." Note the pronunciation, which is what counts:

1. "An istorical view" [NB: Americans might prefer "A historical view" after all.]
2. "a yoo-em-ell diagram"
3. "an ex-em-ell document"

Avoid Nounification

Avoid using the substantive form of verbs if you want to describe an action.

Wrong: "The composition of the toolbar is done like this ..."

Right: "The toolbar is composed like this ..."

See also: Get it Write