Tips on English

a/an/the 사용법

"language ML", "rule A" ==> 이런 순서면 the는 붙이지않는다.
"the ML language", "the A rule" ==> 이런 순서일 때 the를 붙인다.
"single X" 앞에는 항상 "a":
- "Every function has *a* single argument." (o)
a/an/the의 차이
- 관사가 없으면: 지명적인 정도 0
- a/an : 지명적인 정도 1 "저기 있잖아...", "저기...", "그런..."
- the : 지명적인 정도 2 "그...", "바로 그..."
  "Consider *the* C program in Figure 1."
약어 앞에 "the"를 붙이나?
- 약어가 고유명사를 지칭하면 앞에 "the" 붙이지 않는다.
- 약어가 일반명사를 지칭하면 앞에 "the"를 붙인다.
- 약어를 도입하고 뒤에 사용할 때는 약어앞에 "the"를 붙인다.
  "Projection expression (PE) is ..., ... the PE is ..."

this/it/that 사용법

"this", "that"은 단독으로 그것만 사용하지 말고 실제 대상을 꼭 따라붙인다:
- "This is ..." (x)
- "This result is ..." (o)
- "That is strange." (x)
- "That result is strange." (o)
"it" 을 대상을 지칭하는 것으로 쓰지 말것.
- "I don't use the environment; it is completely abstracted."(x)
  애매하다. "it"이 무엇을 지칭하는가? "environment"? 아니면 "I don't use..."라는 사실?
비슷하게, "the above" 사용을 자제하라. "above" 는 너무 애매하다.

명심할 용법

"require"는 목적어 2개: 무엇 & 누구를.
- "It requires to finish the homework." (x)
- 이렇게 쓰면 "숙제를 끝내는 것은 []을 요구한다".
- "It requires us to finish the homework." (o)
"render"는 "make"와는 달리, 항상 "render + 목적어 + 형용사".
- "Our new idea renders it smooth." (o)
- "Our new idea renders a clear result." (x)
"due to"는 항상 be 동사와 같이.
- "It is due to A." (o)
- "Limitation due to A is ..." (x)
"consider" vs "regard"
- "I consider tea (no "as") my favorite."
- "He was considered (no "as") a genius."
- "I regard him as a genius."
"appreciate" 용법
- "I would appreciate *it*(always) if you ...". (o)
- "I would appreciate your doing ...". (o)
- "It would be appreciated if ...". (x)
- "Your prompt payment would be appreciated." (o)
"such as" 와 "like"
- "such as"는 "for example"로 바꾸어서 말이되면 된다.
- "like"는 "similar to" 로 바꾸어서 말이되면 된다.
- "AT&T locations, like MH, already use ..." 에서 "like" 는 "such as" 여야 한다.
"It requires to *measure carefully* the cost again." (순서? O.K.)
"... must *be repeatedly* designed and tested." (순서? O.K.)
"... languages like ML, SCHEME and *even* C" (C는 아니라고 생각할 수 있지만 "C 마저도...")
"various" vs "varied"
- "various"는 항상 복수 명사가 따라온다.
- "a various balance" (x), "various balances" (o)
- "varied"는 "is"다음에 오는 형용사.
- "Their colors are varied." (o) "Their colors are various." (x)
- "They have various colors." (o) "They have varied colors." (x)
"either/or"의 위치
- "It should either be A or B." (o)
- "It should be either A or B." (o)
- "It should be involved either in A or in B." (o)
- "It should be involved in either A or B." (o)
"should/must"의 차이
- must, have to: (requiring) 강하다
- should, ought to: (optional) must보다 약하다.
"usage" 사용자제, 대신 "use"를 사용한다
- "It is tested for safety without the use of animals."
"efficacy" vs "efficiency"
- efficacy, effectiveness: 효험, 효력, 유효, 효과
- efficiency: 능률, 능력, 유능, 유효, 효율
"except for" vs "except that"
- except for : except for that, except for this idea
- except that : except that he is young
"the previous one" vs "the former"
- This approach is better than the former.: 그 내용이 좀전에 언급되었으면 "the former"를 사용할 것
- This approach is better than the previous one.: 그렇지 않은 경우는 "the previous one", eg) "예전 works들은 ...", "예전 paper들이 ..."
need와 only
- "We *need only show that* either A is true or B is false."
"present"(show) 다음에 곧바로 "how to solve/when to do/..."등이 따라오지 않고, 명사가 따라온다.
- He presented how to stop the crime.: (x)
- He presented his idea how to stop the crime.: (o)
"ask"의 사용
- "I ask a question to you." (x)
- "I ask you a question." (o)
- "ask"동사는 다음의 용법을 따르지 않는다:
- "I send a letter to you." (o)
- "I send you a letter." (o)
"following" 용법
- "The following information is..."
- "... as follows:"
- "... in the following."
"non" vs "un"
- 보통 in-, un-은 `반대'의 뜻을 나타내고, non-은 `부정, 결여'의 뜻을 나타냄.
- non-military personal: 일반인
- unmilitary personal: 오합지졸 당나라병사
- non-conventional analyses
- un-conventional analyses
"guarantee"의 용법
- "Generated analyzer *is guaranteed to*(수동) have the polynomial complexity.": (o)
- "I *guarantees*(능동) to have ...": (x)
"guarantee" 와 "need" 는 개인적인 느낌이다. 다른 단어를 사용하도록.
"assure"는 "assure that ..."으로.
- "They can *assure* their programs to have ..." (x)
- "They can assure that their programs have ..." (o)
"much" 는 긍정문에서는 사용하지 않는다.
- "He makes much money." (x)
- "He makes a lot of money." (o)
- "Does he make much money?" (o)
- "He doesn't make much money." (o)
"evaluate"는 능동으로 쓴다.
- "Expression e *evaluates* to k." (o)
- "Expression e *is evaluated* to k." (x)
"right" vs "immediately"
- "The value *right* before the beginning ..." (x)
- "The value *immediately* before the beginning ..." (o)
"enough"는 항상 "형용사 enough to"로 쓴다.
- "It's enough to prove ..." (x)
- "It's sufficient to prove ..." (o)
- "Two things are *enough* to guarantee ..." (x)
- "Two things are *sufficient* to guarantee ..." (o)
"consists of"
- "A consists of two things." (x)
- "A consists of two parts." (o)
"tired" vs "tiring"
- "I'm tired of getting this mail." 지겹다.
- "I'm tiring of getting this mail." 지겨워지고 있다. 좀 더 참을 수는 있다.
*a number of*는 "many"보다는 neutral한 의미의(unbiased) "some"을 의미
"as"는 because 대신으로 "즉", "왜냐하면"의 뉘앙스. because 보다는 *약한* 느낌으로. "... 그게 이래서 그래 ..."
- "A and B are finite, *as* |A| = n < infinite and |B| = |A| + 1."
"As a similar example, consider ..." (o)
"For a similar example, consider ..." (o)
논문에 "need" 사용 자제.
- "need"의 뉴앙스는 말하는 사람의 감정이 관련되는 느낌이된다.
- "need to be " 는 사용 자제.
In conclusion section
- "I have discussed ..."라고 하면 현장감 있다.
- "I discussed ..."라고 하면 시간적으로 많이 동 떨어진 느낌이다.
It is much easier to *do using method A*.: (o)
It is much easier to do *by* using method A.: (x)
"change"는 바꾼다(switch)의 의미.
변화시키다는 "modify/alter".
"involve"는 좀 느슨한 동사다. 사용자제.
"As you knew, ..."는 이상하다. 항상 현재형으로: "As you know, ..." (o)
", which ..."
- 필요없어도 되는 부연설명일 때
- 필요한, 제한하는 내용이 따라붙어야 할 때는 "that..."을 쓴다
수식어와 수식되는 것을 항상 가까이.
- "It is an almost impossible task." (o)
- "It is almost an impossible task." (x)
"as best they can" 사용하면
- they가 원래부터 좀 불구이거나 모자라는 느낌의 뉴앙스가 된다.
since 다음에 반드시 과거형이 오는 것은 아니다. 동사의 성격에 따라 현재 완료를 써야 한다.
"Three problems have occurred since..."
- "... I enrolled VISA card program." (o)
- "... I have had VISA card program." (o)
- "... I had VISA card program." (x)
"Ours are different in that ... and in that ..."
"... in as much detail as they can"
"We call finitary an inference system whenever the associated system is finitary."
"In C, not all accessible memory locations are named by program variables."
"For brevity, ... are omitted from ... in this chapter."
"A is planned for April 5th 1994."
"We can decide whether the expression is involved in the exception behavior *or not*."
==> "We can decide whether or not the expression is involved in the exception behavior."
"We repeat the process in a fixed number of times."
==> "We repeate the process a fixed number of times."
"In Section 3 we conclude with *discussing* future works."
==> "In Section 3 we conclude with future works."
"This method *helps them*, by forcing ...[long], *to keep* ..."
==> "This method, by forcing ..., *helps them to keep* ..."
"Better to put tight clauses together."
"This two are necessary *for the analysis termination*."
==> "This two are necessary *for the analysis to terminate*."
"Every chain between x and y are of the same length."
==> "Every pair of chains between x and y have the same length."
"We won't present *the real* algorithm *in details*."
==> "We won't present *the full details of* the algorithm."
"We will discuss Z1's future extensions."
==> "We will discuss some possible extensions *to* Z1."
"teach it to wider audience in earlier curriculum"
==> "teach it to a wider audience earlier in the curriculum"
"Size |s| of string s" ==> "The size |s| of string s"
"Natural way to approach it" ==> "The natural way to approach it"
"As illustrated in [10] we may leave" ==> "As illustrated in [10], we may leave"
"Base cases" => "The base cases"
"Inductive cases" => "The inductive cases"
"easy to see because ..." => "easy to see, because ..."
"connection to the practice" => "connection to practice"
error/bug report의 좋은 영어 예
- "I imagine I am not the first to alert you to this - can you give me a pointer to corrected sources?"