“Performance” is the noun that comes from “to perform”. But it’s not the right word to use for carrying out tasks or doing work: the overtones are too confusing.
Category Archives: Style
Dear, dear…
Try to avoid using “Dear” at the start of a message or e-mail unless you know the person’s name. Imagine you’re actually speaking to them, face to face.
Passive avoidance
You may have been taught to avoid passive verbs. They have their place, however, and avoiding them mustn’t distort the meaning.
Relations and relationships
Dutch uses the same word for both (relatie), but the meanings in English are distinctly different.
English as she is spoken
The Dutch are great communicators who get their message across well in spoken English. But actually putting the spoken word on paper is a pig with a different snout altogether.
The blog’s purpose
There seems to be a common belief that the possessive form must only be used for animate objects. That is (of course) complete bollocks.
Woods, forests and jungles
Your everyday, common-or-garden patch of countryside with trees is a wood or woodland. Forests are bigger, darker and nastier; jungles are definitely more exotic.
Among other things
Although it’s valid English, it’s not all that common a phrase and often not the most natural equivalent of the Dutch “onder andere”.
Ambition
Ambition isn’t always purely about positive goals. There can be overtones of being hell-bent on achieving them: being greedy, self-serving and unscrupulous.
The muscles of the legs of the sprinter
Using possessive forms and adjectival nouns rather than “of the” can make your writing a lot more succinct.
Advanced Dunglish 