Perfect Your English - Introduction
A list of frequent mistakes made in English by (mostly) French-speaking
authors of technical memos and papers
Version 2 - January 1, 2003
Origin
"Perfect Your English" is a list of recommendations, which I started in 1981 (!) while reviewing
English memos written in the "Informatics Engineering" department of Etudes
et Productions Schlumberger (EPS), now the Schlumberger-Riboud Product
Center (SRPC). Mike Cliff was an early reviewer and contributor to
the list. The list was revised at Schlumberger Montrouge Research
in 1983, and again at the Fairchild Research Center in 1987. After
that, it remained dormant. In 2000, I found a paper copy, and at the same time one of
my ex-colleagues from 1981, now a senior manager in the company, told me that he still had
his copy and had referred to it often. Encouraged by this, in
2001, I finally undertook to update this collection of tips in order to publish on the web. Many other priorities later, here it is.
Many of the errors mentioned in this paper come from imitation of French
spelling, grammar or style in English, in cases where the two languages
differ. Many examples of such misuse would probably apply to the native
speakers of other romance languages (Spanish, Italian, Portuguese, etc.). For instance, the
same confusion that leads a French speaker, thinking of the word "réaliser," to mistakenly
write "realize" when he means "perform," "execute," or "implement," may
also mislead a native Spanish speaker who thinks of the cognate "realizar"
in his own language. This being said, caveat emptor.
This is divided into sections -- you can see the table of contents in the left frame. Just click on
one of the links to display that section.
You're welcome to send me
your feedback and recommendations. I won't make promises to update these pages quickly, but
eventually your opinion will be reflected. Thanks in advance...