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Little things again!
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I wrote here earlier about the "little things" and have decided to write again. What are the little things? They are the little things that Chinese writers of English often neglect, capitalization, punctuation, and spacing.
In English, you could say, "I'm trying to work myself out of a job." That is, if I teach you about the little things, I won't have work! Why? Because my job is editing. I work by improving the writing of Chinese writers of English. If everyone in China was fluent in English, I would not have a job. So, please allow me to work myself out of a job! If you learn this lesson well, I may not find more work!
I'm still surprised by how many Chinese writers of English neglect the little things. Even Chinese teachers of tell me, "It is not important." I think, "That's crazy!" I get paid thousands of dollars every year to work with capitalization, punctuation, and spacing.
So, let's discuss the little things.
Look at this paragraph, to me it has all the errors of a chinese writer of english .in fact , it is hard for me to type this way.Why?Because it is so abnormal .i find it really hard to do
Now let me write a better paragraph.
Look at this paragraph. There are no spaces before the commas and periods. There are spaces after commas and periods. Words like Chinese and English start with capital letters. This looks much more professional.
Rules of English:
1) start each sentence with a capital letter,
2) end each sentence with a period or other punctuation,
3) capitalize the first letter of any proprer nounds,
4) use spaces carefully, and
5) avoid using only commas in a paragraph; use some periods!
Imagine you are an American business man. You receive the following paragraph on a resume. "My name is gao li .I passed cet-6 in college, i have a degree in english and am very fluent in english , I can write english very well and led my class,earning the highest score in my universitys' history in english.i am very confident when I speak english with foreigners."
What is wrong? The paragraph may say the person writes good English. But i can see at least 12 errors in the paragraph. The English may be good, but the person seems to know nothing about what I call "the little things." Little things are very important. If I hired that person to translate for me, I would know I have to teach them about English before they could write letters for my business.
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Post comment Comment (19 replies)
- Reply noah.xiang
- could you point me the 12 errors?
- Reply Tonyzli
- Thanks a lot for pointing out the errors which are normal in Chinese writing. All the people know these are errors but they never really care about. So this is not a knowledge issue but attitude problem. Improper attitude must be even worse than the writing errors. I always push myself to be serious when blogging here for a lot of learners will read it. Thanks.
- Reply sedgehead
- noah.xiang: could you point me the 12 errors?Here are the twelve errors, but corrected. Compare the two paragraphs.
Look at this paragraph. To me it has all the errors of a Chinese writer of English. In fact, it is hard for me to type this way. Why?
Because it is so abnormal. I find it really hard to do.
Still don't see them? Then look more carefully:
. . . graph. To . . . Chinese . . . English. In fact, it . . . way. Why? Because. . . .abnormal. I . . . do.
- Reply moli
- Thanks.
Do you remember me? I am moli.
You are right. We make little progress in learning English if we neglect little things.
- Reply sedgehead
- 异物: How is my English holding up against those "little things", Sir?I read your last blog. You did well.
One item: in your reply, use sir and not Sir.
Of course, I don't usually use sir. It is too formal!
- Reply sedgehead
- moli: Thanks.I remember you well, Moli! pH
Do you remember me? I am moli.
You are right. We make little progress in learning English if we neglect little things.
- Reply heai88
- sedgehead: I read your last blog. You did well.
One item: in your reply, use sir and not Sir.
Of course, I don't usually use sir. It is too formal!
- Reply snowflying
- but i always remember it, my poor english..
- Reply 异物
- sedgehead: I read your last blog. You did well.Advice taken. I used "Sir" as a dramatizer. It has a twisted sense of playfulness to it. And it was used to pay tribute to your seniority.
One item: in your reply, use sir and not Sir.
Of course, I don't usually use sir. It is too formal!
- Reply sedgehead
- 异物: Advice taken. I used "Sir" as a dramatizer. It has a twisted sense of playfulness to it. And it was used to pay tribute to your seniority.[eDear Herr Professor Doctor! I understand completely! pH
- Reply sedgehead
- lchh: It is very benefited me, thanks!我建议 (I suggest): It was very beneficial to me. 或是 (or) It benefited me a lot.
- Reply Gllen
After reading your article,i know i usually make a mistake in my blog,especially the capital letters.thanks for your suggestion.
- Reply sedgehead
- Gllen:Capital letters are hard to get on a cell phone. But we don't have that excuse with a computer!After reading your article,i know i usually make a mistake in my blog,especially the capital letters.thanks for your suggestion.
I suggest: ". . . article, I know I usually make mistakes in my blog, especially with the . . . letters. Thank . . ."
