It’s not a number of years that gets celebrated in the English-speaking world. Rephrasing or explanation is needed if you don’t want readers scratching their heads.
Category Archives: Advanced
Clause order
In 1972, the company was founded. The company was founded in 1972. Both valid, depending on the emphasis, but the default for Dutch writers is often the less obvious form.
Medical Latin
Don’t assume that Latin in Dutch medical texts will be the same in English: this is often not the case. Abbreviations in particular can be incomprehensible to English speakers, even doctors
Let it be
Of several small, versatile words that are widely used by English authors and hardly ever turn up in non-native texts, the one that’s missed most often is “let”.
Answering your own questions
Want your English to sound natural? Then don’t keep answering your own questions. Want to know more? Read on!
A monumental mistake
A monument is a structure erected in remembrance of a person or event. They’re often on a grand scale, which is why “monumental” simply means extremely large.
Propagating initial capitals
Where sentences don’t start with a capital for some reason, there’s no need to propagate the need for one until you find somewhere to put it.
So-called
Watch the overtones: it’s not only telling you a term is used but also implying that it’s incorrect. A so-called expert or so-called friend is not to be trusted!
Generalized case plurals
“I had a phone conversation with ten dentists” in English is a conference call, but in Dutch it would usually mean ten separate calls, one with each.
By starting sentences like this…
… you are forced into a clumsy structure. Avoiding it lets you make the syntax snappier.
Advanced Dunglish 