MUPIC COURSE

Some words are easily confused. If in doubt, consult a dictionary.  

Examples: practise/practice, license/licence, affect/effect, principal/principle, dependent/dependant…

Watch out for the correct use of prepositions. If in doubt, consult a dictionary.  

Examples: interested in, participate in, consist of, focus on, included in, based on

Be consistent in using/not using the definite article. It is a difficult task, and we keep learning all the time.  

Examples:

During the  first months of THE project, THE team has given attention to… (THE team, THE project = specific entities)

THE project’s schedule and scope are fixed but THE project team has a freedom to produce THE best solution to Vesuvius…

There are only a few instances when we use NO ARTICLE: when talking about things in general, when talking about sports and games, with names of countries,  names of languages, names of meals, and before noun + number.  In all other cases, we must use an article.

Capitalization

Follow the basic rules described in grammar textbooks. The fact is that experienced writers are not too generous with capitals outside these rules. If there is any doubt, it is best not to use them.  The general rule would be to pick a policy and be consistent.

Write formally

Use a formal tone in reports and technical writing. Formal writing is precise and impersonal. Writers follow the rules of standard English with exactness: they don’t use idioms, contractions, or sentence fragments.

For example,  “In addition to…” is more formal than “also”. Similarly, the word “however” should be used to start a sentence rather than “but”.  In formal writing, there is no space for slang, familiar expressions, and subjective statements.

Proofread properly

There are often several correct ways of expressing the same thing and it is up to the writer to use a variant of their choice.  What all writers must pay attention to is consistency – choosing one variant and sticking to it throughout the document.  It is, therefore, important to set aside time for proper revision.  Using a spell checker is not enough.  All written material should be proofread repeatedly until the writer is satisfied, and all mistakes are corrected. This is especially true when several authors participate in writing a document.