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Common vocabulary problems

This section identifies a number of vocabulary problems that are common in the writing of non-native speakers, particularly speakers of Dutch. They have been selected from two sources:

Blanpain, Kristin, Academic Writing in the Humanities and Social Sciences (Leuven 2006).
Hannay M. and Mackenzie J. Lachlan, Effective writing in English (Coutinho 2002)

accordingly

Accordingly is rather formal and by no means the most common of the causal connectives. Nevertheless, it is useful to add to your collection because it differs from other causal connectives in one subtle respect. Accordingly expresses a causal relation where the resulting action is natural rather than a necessary consequence. Accordingly is hardly ever used by Dutch writers. One reason may be that there is not a straightforward Dutch equivalent.

For many decades Britain and the United States enjoyed a special relationship. Accordingly, the red carpet was well and truly rolled out every time the political leaders met.

actually

Do not use actual if you mean current or present. The meaning of actual is real, existing in fact.

Social capital consists of all actual or potential resources linked to...
We estimate that about 50 children will participate. The actual number will ...
This is critical in the current climate of political tension.
This reflects the change in the value of current and future earnings.

as for

Dutch writers often use as for as a variation on as far as X is concerned and with regard to. However, you need to be very careful when using this expression, since in fact it is highly contrastive. The expression as to is similar to as for.

As for complete integration, that is quite a different matter.

attention

Non-native writers often seem to have problems finding an appropriate verb to use with attention, which leads to unusual combinations such as *attention is brought or *to put attention on. The examples listed below contain the most common collocations with attention.

Relatively little attention has been paid to this topic.
Particular attention is given to the use of parallelism.
The paper draws attention to possible displacement effects.
Considerable attention is focused on the use of military force.

base

Do not use base instead of basis. The word base occurs in a limited number of combinations such as database, evidence base and knowledge base. Basis is much more common, and occurs in combinations such as provide a basis for, form the basis for, on the basis of, on an annual basis etc.

A new evidence base that derives directly from practice is suggested.
This research could form the basis for subsequent longitudinal studies.

briefly - in brief - in short

You use briefly to announce that you are going to describe a situation without going into detail. You use in short, on the other hand, to introduce a summarizing statement, a statement which is as a rule only one sentence long. The Dutch equivalent is kortom. The situation is made more complicated by in brief, which you can use in both the ways described above. The Dutch equivalent is in het kort. Finally, note that shortly is not an option here. It means soon, and nothing else.

Sonia explained briefly what we had to do.

Carter hoped for greater trust between the two nations, more trade, more cultural exchanges - in short, a genuine peace.

We should, in brief, invest heavily in digital systems. (without going into details)

Here are today's headlines in brief. (summarizing)

concretely

Concretely is mainly used in contrast to something abstract. To narrow the focus, it is more common to opt for specifically, particularly, or in particular.

Second, these relations are concretely situated in specific contexts.
This may shed light on what abstract design concepts might mean concretely.
More specifically, we will develop and apply the following methods.

considering (that)

Considering can be used both as a preposition and as a conjunction, in which case it is usually followed by that, at least in the written language. You can use it to show that you are taking account of a particular situation or event when making a judgement. A very similar expression is given.

Considering the situation in Russia, it is unlikely that the EU will wish to speed up membership talks with Poland and Hungary.
Considering that Scandinavian coalitions are very fragile, it is unlikely that the Danish government will survive this latest scandal.

Dutch students sometimes use condering wrongly, in the following way:

Considering the arguments of the American anti-abortion lobby, their most striking feature is the aggressiveness.

What is meant here is something like with regard to. A more idiomatic and straightforward formulation would be:

The arguments of the American anti-abortion lobby are characterized by their aggressiveness.

contrary to

Contrary to is often translated as in tegenstelling tot; however, the English expression is more restricted in its use than the Dutch expression, which can be used widely, as in in tegenstelling tot Jan/jou/gisteren/wat de meeste mensen denken. By contrast, contrary to is restricted to beliefs and opinions. Contrary to popular belief, for instance, is a standard expression in English, but you can also say:

Contrary to what most people think, ...

Contrary to what is often assumed, ...

control

Do not use control if you mean monitor or check. The meaning of control is to order and rule something.

To what extent are the media controlled by corporate interests?
Access to the data is strictly controlled.

critic / critique

Do not use critic or critique when you mean criticism (= critical remarks). A critic is a person who evaluates a work of art or a theory; a critique is a critical assessment or analysis, so it is much more elaborate than a few remarks.

Critics have approached the poem in two ways.
The authors present an excellent critique of the common argument that ...

dispose of

The meaning of dispose of is get rid of, so do not confuse it with have at your disposal.

Where can I dispose of hazardous waste?
This allows s to dispose of parameters that are not directly useful to us.

due

Note that due to is mainly used in negative contexts. To introduce a positive reason, use another possibility (e.g. because of, as a result of).

Their relatively low level is largely due to poor infrastructure.
Perhaps this failure is due to the number of authors involved..

economic(al)

Do not mix up economical and economic. The meaning of economical is using little money, time effort, whereas economic refers to the economy.

And thirdly, it is economical in that that it allows a maximum amount of information to be collected with a minimum amount of testing time.
This may explain the wide variation in economic development

eventual(ly)

Do not use eventually if you mean possibly. The meaning of eventually is in the end, ultimately.

These policies eventually led to the downfall of the dynasty itself.
The time limit proposal was eventually defeated.

find

The meaning of find is to discover or to judge on the basis of evidence. As such, it is somewhat different from Dutch vinden, which can simply indicate an opinion.

Co-operative learning was found to increase the mathematics self-concept scores in these students. (= the results of these studies)
Furthermore, he finds that the number of uncontrolled variables makes it difficult to generalize about ... (= he concludes)
The authors find it difficult to explain this effect (= they experience difficulties)

first, second / firstly, secondly

There are two points here. First of all, make sure that you do not mix the forms from these sequences in one and the same list. The second point is that both sequences, with and without -ly, can be used to introduce a list of arguments or considerations:

There are two reasons why the Dutch public sympathize with the students. Firstly, the public do not like the sight of order troops breaking up peaceful demonstrations; and secondly, in the grants affairs they see the students as victims of totally incompetent administration.

However, if you wish to order a set of temporal events then you can only use first, preferably followed by then or next rather than second. You cannot use firstly.

*There are two steps which the hospital board must take. Firstly, it must apologize in public to the families concerned, and then it must draw up procedures to prevent this from happening again.

go together with

The expression go together with is not used as frequently as Dutch gaat samen met. A number of more common alternatives are given in the following examples.

This is related to a slightly different strategy.
We examined how general theoretical claims are tied to specific data in constructing evidence.
The demand for proportional representation was linked to a more general demand for democratisation.

hereby / thereby

In English hereby is only used in formal declarations (I hereby declare ...). It is not used when mentioning an attachment in an email, for instance. Thereby, on the other hand, does occur in academic English. Its meaning is in this way and it is often followed by an -ing form.

I hereby declare that the information provided is true and accurate to the best of my knowledge.
The reduction of the data set, introduces bias into the analysis, thereyby influencing ...

in that

In that is a useful conjunction but is rarely used by Dutch writers. Rather than signalling a reason for the content of the host clause, it stresses that what follows is a justification for presenting the content of the host clause.

Arbitration boards have clearly been a great success, in that the number of working days lost to strikes has fallen by 50% since the boards were introduced.

The force of in that here might be paraphrased as 'and my evidence for claiming this is as follows'. Note that a clause with in that follows its host clause but cannot precede it.

level

Speakers of Dutch often write on this level, but with level the most common preposition is at, as the following examples illustrate.

It also applies at international level.
Observations were undertaken at the classroom level.

However, on... level is also used occasionally, especially, it seems, if level is used in a vague sense (meaning perspective or viewpoint). To refer to levels in a stricter sense, the preferred option is at.

On a personal level, I am grateful to my friend and colleague, X.
On another level, however, the discrepancy between studies is disconcerting.

namely

Namely often causes problems for Dutch speakers. In English namely is used with references to actual names, as you can see in the example below.

Each week, the series focuses on a different group of birds, namely Thrushes, Titmice, Finches, “Woodland Visitors” and House Guests.

The main problem is caused by interference with Dutch namelijk, which is often used in Dutch in an independent sentence to provide an explanation or justification for what has been said in the previous sentence. English has a number of possible equivalents, byt *namely is definitely not one of them. Here is an example of how not to use it:

*Socially, older couples who have a baby are likely to become isolated. Other couples of their age, namely, are retired and are not housebound because of a child.

Useful options for translating namelijk include the point is and the fact is if you wish to retain an independent sentence, and because and since if you wish to indulge in clause combining.

next to

As the examples below illustrate, next to indicates position and nearness, so it is not a synonym of in addition to or besides. Note the idiomatic expressions next to nothing and next to impossible.

The subject is required to write the letter E next to the item.
However, next to nothing is known about the consequences.

nuance

Nuance and nuanced are not very common in English, so a sentence such as this concept needs to be nuanced may sound like translated Dutch. If nuanced occurs at all, it is often combined with more (e.g. a more nuanced view / approach / strategy). A few alternatives are provided below.

A more nuanced approach is necessary.
This would require a more sophisticated approach.

one

The impersonal pronoun one denotes anybody. These are typical contexts:

Thus, one might contend that this is not realistic.
These are some of the considerations one must take into account when ...

One is much less common than Dutch men, and often sounds slighly pompous, so do not overuse it. Instead, opt for other impersonal structures, such as passives.

*In order to determine this, one will have to combine the legal principles with the agreement of the parties involved.

In order to determine this, the legal principles will have to be combined with with the agreement of the parties.

on the other side

Do not use on the one side / on the other side instead of on the one hand / on the other hand (enerzijds / anderzijds). As the examples illustrate, on one side and on the ... side do exist, but they are used only to refer to different sides in a debate or argument.

On the empirical side, a method is proposed that combines the ...
On one side, there is the school of thought that ... On the other side, there is ...

own

In English, own is always used after a genitive or a possessive pronoun; it does not take an article.

*He is entitled to an own opinion
He is entitled to his own opinion.

*Learners had to explain own interpretations.
Learners had to explain their own interpretations.

pretend

If you pretend something, you act as if something is true, even though you know it is not. Hence, pretend is not an adequate translation of Dutch pretenderen or French prétendre.

He pretended to have discovered an ancient manuscript (= he tried to deceive us).

research

Note that research is uncountable and cannot be used in the plural. Use studies instead.

*There have already been a number of researches on the property law aspects of intellectuel property.
There have already been a number of studies on the property law aspects of intellectuel property.

scientific

Scientific is not used as frequently as Dutch wetenschappelijk. Moreover, it has exact science connotations, so it is particularly rare in the Humanities.

His research work has also greatly influenced people from all over the world conducting research in psychology. (rather than scientific research)
There may, however, be a number of research articles on the subject.

seen

Do not use seen if you mean considering (the fact) that. Use given instead.

As seen from table 3 (= as can be seen), the calculated MDP corresponds very well to ...
Given the constraints imposed by this framework, price competition

shortly

The meaning of shortly is soon. If you mean that will do something quickly or using few words, use briefly.

More information about the conference will appear shortly.
These states will shortly be joining the EU.

... spoken

Use speaking rather than spoken in expresssions such as generally speaking..

We see that this equation may have, generally speaking, two roots. (not generally spoken)
This is an issue which, historically speaking, has been open to much interpretation.

until now / up till now

Speakers of Dutch frequently use until now and up till now in contexts where other expressions might sound more natural. In fact, until now and up till now should only be used to emphasize the contrast with what will happen from now on.

Until now, this aspect has seldom been taken into account. (= until the present study)
Up til now, it has not been possible to clarify which role each of these structures plays. (= but it will be possible from now on)

Unless this is what you mean, to date and so far are useful alternatives

Previous research: to date
Most research to date has focused on ...
To date, this issue has not been explored

Metadiscourse / previous research / historical developments: so far
So far, I have considered mainly imaginary cases
The sociological theories constructed so far are inadequate for understanding ...