Dutch is rich in synonyms (often pairs with Germanic and Latinate roots). The nuances of usage aren’t quite the same – and it’s an issue in English too.
Category Archives: Style
They seek him here, they seek him there
To ‘seek’ is another of those words that are very similar to a much more everyday Dutch equivalent. It therefore gets heavily overused in Dunglish.
Well-equipped
This mask is equipped with an elastic band. This playground is equipped with a slide. This jacket is equipped with large pockets. What’s wrong with “has”?
Playing for keeps
There are a few small words that bespeckle native English yet are rarely used by non-natives. A very useful one is “keep”.
Zero Dark Thirty
There are all kinds of ways of expressing times and writing them down, but the commonest formats in English aren’t the same as the usual Dutch ones.
Trajectories are for ballistics
The curve taken under gravity by a thrown object, or a metaphorical upward progression such as a career. Not a generic synonym for a route or pathway.
Writing in “the English language”
Speaking “the English language”. Mastery of “the English language”. Um… what’s wrong with just saying “English”?
Hanging prepositions
When two different prepositions are needed in a list of actions, it can read better if you repeat the noun (or use “it” or “them” as a placeholder).
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
Advanced Dunglish 