For some reason, Dutch writers love correcting “social” into “societal”.
Category Archives: Wrong register
A timely reminder
A project can be completed on time, or in good time, or as scheduled. But the nuances of “timely” aren’t always quite the same.
Cause and effect
“Causing something to take place” isn’t incorrect. But 99 times out of 100, the native speaker would say it was “made to happen”.
Executing, accomplishing, performing
When a task is being done, far simpler alternatives are available. The one that is most commonly overlooked is to “carry out”.
A telling point
The verb “to tell” is quite widely used and versatile in English, but comparatively rarely used by non-natives.
Youth and young people
“Youth” has several meanings but often with an old-fashioned, condescending, daddy-knows-best feel to it.
Performance
“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.
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.
Hitting the right register
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.
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.
Advanced Dunglish 