When a task is being done, far simpler alternatives are available. The one that is most commonly overlooked is to “carry out”.
Category Archives: Style
Don’t mention it
When someone mentions something, it’s a minor sideline, a small point. “Oh, by the way…” Not a general verb for a statement in a report or document.
Chapter and verse
A document really has to be pretty large before you can call its subdivisions “chapters”. We’re talking a small book, not a ten-pager.
A programme of programs
In British English, the spelling “program” is normally used nowadays for IT but “programme” is still the norm for other contexts.
A telling point
The verb “to tell” is quite widely used and versatile in English, but comparatively rarely used by non-natives.
Support
A perfectly good word, but hugely less common than its Dutch equivalent. So Dutch authors overuse it horrendously.
Sir McCartney…?
Nope. On the rare occasions you’re referring to somone with the title, it goes with the first name: Sir Paul. Otherwise ‘sir’ is a standalone without any name attached.
Tautologous doublures
In an effort to make a text sound richer and wordier, Dutch authors sometimes include both the Dutch and English in the same phrase.
In relation to, with regard to
Texts by Dutch authors tend to be full of little phrases like these. Sure, they have their place, but there’s often a natural one-word alternative.
Youth and young people
“Youth” has several meanings but often with an old-fashioned, condescending, daddy-knows-best feel to it.
Advanced Dunglish 