A Guide To Improving English And

Removing Those Common Mistakes – For

Students & Professionals
Common problematic phrases and preferred alternatives

 “Detail out”, “Details”; use describe, identify, …

 “is not matching”; use “does not match”

 “it is recommend to xxx”; use “it is recommended that”

 “can be referred from”; use “may be found in”, “is located in”, …
 “information like”; use “information such as”
 “comprises of the” or “comprises the”; use either “is composed of” or “consists of”.
 “explains on”; use “describes” or “explains” depending on context.
 “basis”; use “based upon”
 “huge”; this is often used to describe file sizes but should generally not be used as it is
associated with overly dramatic statements. “Large” is a better word but it is probably
best to give a specific definition of the size such as “files larger than 1GB”.

 “for e.g.”, use either “for example, …” or “e.g.” “E.g.” itself means “for example” so the
term “for e.g.” is redundant.

 “updation”; this is not a word, use update or updated as appropriate.

 “revert” use “please reply” or “please provide an update.” “Revert” means “to return to a
former condition, practice, subject, or belief.” Using “revert” as a request to reply to an e-
mail or a request for information is inconsistent with this definition. Please note although
revert is frequently used incorrectly in India this does not make it correct.
 Use “feedback” instead of “feedbacks”.
 Use “please do what is required” instead of “do the needful”. “Please do the needful” is
often the only remark in forwarded e-mails. We should be more specific as to what
action(s) we want the reader to take and by when (sometimes it is not obvious).
 Use “lessons” or “knowledge” instead of learning(s). Avoid using the word learning or
learnings in the context of lessons.

Correct usage: No data migration will be required for the process that is being implemented.

Incorrect usage: No data migration would be required for the process that is being implemented.

Use click instead of click on.

Correct usage: Click the OK button or Click OK.
Incorrect usage: Click on the OK button.
Buzzwords

Note, a good rule of thumb is to try and avoid the repetition of a word within the next three lines.
Overused buzzwords: key, leverage, …

“MS Word” Tips

 Be sure to create a standard Word template that meets your requirements at the outset of
each project. This will ensure that all documents have a consistent look and feel.

 When the first row of a table is used as a header it should be set to repeat if the table
crosses page boundaries (select row, click on format -> table properties -> rows -> select
repeat row as header on the top of each page) AND the paragraph attribute “Keep with
Next” should be set for the header contents (that way you don’t end up with only the
header on the bottom of a page).

 Blank lines should not be used to create white space between paragraphs and graphics,
use paragraph spacing / styles instead.

 Graphics are frequently scaled disproportionately (i.e. height is 80%, and width is 50% of
the original size) making any text in them hard to read as well as distorting the images.

Other Common Issues

 Sentences are too long. Keep sentence length to an average of 15 to 20 words. Longer
sentences are generally harder to read.

 Frequent shifts from 3rd person (he/she/it/they) to 1st (I/we) and 2nd (you) person.
Technical documents should generally be written in 3rd person (he/she/it/they) with very
few, if any, exceptions.

 Incorrect capitalization: Proper nouns and the first word of a sentence should be
capitalized. A proper noun is a specific name of a place, a person, or a thing. The first
letter of a proper noun is always represented by a capital letter. Examples include:

– Name of the month and day (January, February, April, …)

– Names of companies (Microsoft, Amazon, Nike, …)
– Names of people (John, Mary, Mr. Lee, Tom Jones, …)
– Names of places (Greentown Hospital, City Park, …)
– Title of a person (Dr. Kenny White, President Jimmy Ayusso, Ms. Miri Thomas)
– Names of books, newspapers, plays, … (The New York times, War and Peace, …)

 Improper use of articles such as “a”, “an”, and “the” (often they are either missing or
placed where they are not needed. Below are a couple of examples:
“This engagement clearly underlines our commitment and dedicated focus in Texas region … ”
should read “This engagement clearly underlines our commitment and dedicated focus in the
Texas region …” Note came from a company press release.
“This was at heart of the discussion that XXX had with the HR team few months back …”
should be “was at the heart of the discussion XXX had with the HR team a few months back”.

 Use active (he subject of the sentence acts upon something or someone) rather than
passive voice (the subject is acted upon). Active voice is usually the correct choice. It is
considered to be more powerful and straightforward whereas passive voice often leads to
long and confusing sentences. Examples:

Active: I shall always remember my first visit to Mysore

Passive: My first visit to Mysore will always be remembered by me.

 Avoid using colloquialisms as they are easy to get wrong. For example, the phrase “in a
nutshell” meaning to encapsulate into a small package was written as “on a nutshell” in a
deliverable. Aside from adding humor to the readers experience it does detract from the
message and diminishes the author.

Samples of sentences that don’t express ideas well and suggested

changes

“Customers are faced with multiple challenges every now and then. The challenge could be of
deriving maximum value from the existing IT investments, or moving beyond incident
management, supporting a re-engineered or evolving business model, or leveraging technology
to create new business models.”
The first sentence is a weak and factually incorrect statement. Customers regularly face multiple
challenges. The 2nd sentence is nearly double the length it should be and includes incorrect
grammar (e.g. “could be of”).
A better version is:
“Our customers face multiple business challenges. These include:
– Improving the ROI on IT investments
– Moving from incident management to a proactive management approach
– Supporting a re-engineered or evolving business
– The need to use existing IT infrastructure (systems and application) to support new business
models.”
Although the above is better, from a written English perspective, I’m sure it could be improved
from the standpoint of having the IT challenges more clearly tied to business challenges
(customer satisfaction, improved profitability …).

“This section explains on the activities performed for migration …” can be better expressed
using the following “This section describes the steps required to migrate … “
“Develop this document by following the design guidelines and in line with the Architecture and
the High Level Design Document.”
The clause following the first “and” is not a complete sentence. It would be better written as
follows:
“This document should clearly conform to the design guidelines established by the ICC. The
contents should also be aligned with the Architecture and High Level Design documents for the
project.”

“Testing shall be resumed once all the defects agreed are fixed and application is stable. Testing
shall be resumed as new repeat test cycle or repeat only the impacted test cases.”
The clause “resumed as new report test cycle” creates confusion. How do you resume something
yet have it be new?
“Testing shall be resumed once all the defects agreed are fixed and application is stable. Testing
may also be resumed to repeat a test cycle or retest impacted test cases.”

“The scope of this document is limited to the system boundaries as defined in the Software
Requirement Specification to record the solution approach of the functional, non functional
requirements to be addressed in the Project. A brief description of what the System Architecture
Document applies to; what is affected or influenced by this document.”
The first sentence of the above paragraph is 36 words (twice the recommended length) and
consequently difficult to read. It also includes several cases of incorrect capitalization. Below is
an improved version.
“This document discusses how the solution addresses the functional/non-functional requirements
described in the Software Requirements Specification (SRS). It is limited to the system
boundaries outlined in the SRS. A brief description of how the system architecture is impacted by
the approach which will be taken will also be included.”

“For UI layer, specify the systems that are interacting with the user to get request and send back
response and details of communication with the business layer.”
Sentence is too long and uses one too many “ands” (should have been shortened or written as
two sentences. Below is a better version.
“Specify all systems that interact with users and describe how they communicate with the
business layer.”

“The above sample logical view of the application depicts the components involved along with
the connection pointers, thus says how the project is implemented logically.”
The 2nd clause “thus says …” seems a bit awkward. Below is a suggested improvement. Shorter
sentences almost always improve readability.
“The above sample logical view of the application depicts the components used within a solution
and how they are interconnected.”
“This section focus on what will be work required to executed any work, which is left out
purposefully.”
This sentence is filled with grammatical errors including “this section focus” (should be “this
section focuses”), “what will be work” (should be “what the work entails”), etc. and is not
coherent. It should be entirely rethought and rewritten. Below is a suggestion.
“This section is used to identify any long-term requirements that are not addressed in the
solution and describe how they can be addressed in future releases.”

These were just some of many issues that I have noticed. Try and implement all the alternatives
present in this guide and you will be on the track to having better and grammatically correct
English.