Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
There are some times that appear inconsistent.
Some of the times appear inconsistent.
This form is awkward for another reason—“some of the time” is a common phrase.
Several of the times appear inconsistent.
Language is not static. Words enter the language, or go out of vogue, or change
in meaning. A word whose meaning has changed—at least, some people still use the
old meaning, but most use the new—is “data”. Since “data” is by etymology a plural,
expressions such as “the data is stored on disk” have been regarded as grammatically
incorrect, but “the data are stored on disk” simply seems wrong. Correspondingly,
“datum” is now rare. “Data” is appropriate for both singular and plural. On the other
hand, use “automaton” rather than “automata” for the singular case.
Use a word only if you are sure that you know the meaning and can apply it cor-
rectly. Some words are familiar because of their use in a certain context—perhaps in
a saying such as “hoist by his own petard” or a cliché such as “critical juncture”—but
have otherwise lost their meaning. Other words, such as “notwithstanding”, “whilst”,
and “amongst”, have an archaic feel and can seem out of place in new writing. Some
words have acquired meanings in computing that are distinct from their meaning
elsewhere. Besides re-use of nouns such as “bus” and “record”, there are more subtle
cases. For example, “iterate” in computing means
to loop
, but in other writing it can
mean
to do again
.
If you are unsure about aword, check it in a dictionary. There aremany good online
dictionaries, but be sure to check that the meaning is appropriate to computing or
mathematics. Sometimes it can be helpful to use the Web to find examples of the
word being used in context.
Some choices of word or phrase are cultural. For example, I've noticed that Indian
writers sometimes write “different from” where a British writer would write “in
contrast to”, and moreover would argue that the Indian usage was wrong. With
the globalization of English, however, it is often not logical to defend one usage
over another. While I find “different from” irritating, and would never use it in
my own writing, it is perfectly clear; the important thing is that your usage be
consistent.
Slang should not be used in technical writing. Nor should the choice of words sug-
gest that the writing is careless; avoid sloppy-looking abbreviations and contractions.
Use “cannot” in preference to “can't”, for example.
Don't make excessive claims about your own work. Phrases such as “our method
is an ideal solution to these problems” or “our work is remarkable” are not acceptable.
Claims about your own work should be unarguable.
