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Most frequent mistakes
Typical English mistakes
The system consist of three main component.

Giorgio Buttazzo
don't forget the s don't forget the s
g.buttazzo@sssup.it in third persons in plurals

The set of nodes are fully connected.

verb must agree

http://retis.sssup.it/~giorgio/h2d.html with the subject

Do not literally translate from Italian
Many phrases need to be completely restructured:
It: Per quanto riguarda il software, …
En‐wrong: For what concerns the software, …
En‐right: As far as software is concerned, …
It: Indichiamo con N il numero di task.
En‐wrong: We indicate with N the number of tasks.
En‐right: The number of tasks is denoted by N.
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Do not literally translate from Italian
It: l’algoritmo verifica se la condizione è vera
En‐wrong: the algorithm verifies if the condition is true
En‐right: the algorithm verifies whether the condition is true
It: In questo lavoro è stato ottenuto un nuovo risultato
En‐wrong: In this work it has been obtained a new result
En‐right: A new result has been obtained in this work
It: l’algoritmo evita che il task subisca bloccaggio
En‐wrong: the algorithm avoids that the task suffers blocking
En‐right: the algorithm prevents the task from being blocked

Do not literally translate from Italian Do not literally translate from Italian
It: una volta acquisiti i valori, calcoliamo il massimo It: il tempo di attivazione può essere anticipato
En‐wrong: once acquired the values, we compute the maximum En‐wrong: the time of activation can be anticipated
En‐right: once the values have been acquired, we compute En‐right: the activation time can be advanced
the maximum

It: Più alto è il carico, più è lungo il ritardo It: il software verrà testato per vedere dov'è l'errore
En‐wrong: The higher is the load, the longer is the delay En‐wrong: the software will be tested to see where is the error
En‐right: The higher the load, the longer the delay En‐right: software will be tested to discover where the error is

It: per sfruttare l’eventuale tempo disponibile

En‐wrong: to exploit the eventual time available
En‐right: to exploit the possible time available
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Do not write as you talk Do not write using the first person
Avoid using slang or contractions: Direct: In this paper, we will show a new theory on …
Indirect: A new theory on… will be shown in this paper
contracted full
This paper presents a new theory on …
don’t do not
I’m I am Direct: In the following, we use  to denote a delay
Indirect: In the following, a delay is denoted by 
we’ll we will In the following,  is used to denote a delay.
aren’t are not
Direct: As we mentioned in the previous section
can’t cannot
Indirect: As mentioned in the previous section
It won’t be It will not be
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Chose the correct words Do not use long sentences
Eventually means “at the end” Bad:
Although many authors worked on distributed systems, by showing
several interesting solutions, many issues remain still to be addressed,
It: l’algoritmo alla fine termina con un valore positivo such as determining the optimal task allocation, estimating the end-to-end
delays, finding the longest response time, guaranteeing real-time
En‐right: the algorithm eventually ends with a positive value constraints in the presence of shared resources, and setting other timing
parameters of the application that can be optimized to improve the overall
system performance while minimizing energy consumption.
It: Il task eventualmente si blocca sulla risorsa R Better:
En‐wrong: The task eventually blocks on resource R Although many authors worked on distributed systems, by showing
several interesting solutions, many issues remain still to be addressed.
En‐right: The task possibly blocks on resource R These include determining the optimal task allocation, estimating the end-
The task may block on resource R to-end delays, finding the longest response time, guaranteeing real-time
constraints in the presence of shared resources. Another open issue
concerns the optimization of application timing parameters to improve the
9 overall system performance while minimizing energy consumption. 10

Use appropriate "connectors" Careful  with some verbs

indipendentemente da independently of

in base ai risultati ottenuti
a seconda che
in presenza/assenza di
uno alla volta
based on the achieved results To allow: Ciò permette di scoprire
En-wrong: It allows to discover
depending on
En-right: It allows discovering
in the presence/absence of
It allows us to discover
one at a time

tale valore (tali valori) such a value (such values)

To aim: Tale metodo ha lo scopo di minimizzare il valore
nel caso in cui in the case in which
En-wrong: Such a method aims to minimize the value
in funzione del tempo as a function of time En-right: Such a method aims at minimizing the value
nella media on the average

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Careful  with some verbs Careful  with some plurals
En-wrong: a way to deal with
En-right: a way of dealing with It: Queste informazioni vengono trasmesse al nodo
En-wrong: These informations are sent to the node
En-wrong: a possibility to have
En-right: This information is sent to the node
En-right: a possibility of having
These data are sent to the node
En-wrong: it is worth to note/observe
En-right: it is worth noting/observing
It: Le prestazioni del sistema sono misurate con
En-wrong: A is better than to use B En-wrong: System performances are measured by
En-right: A is better than using B En-right: System performance is measured by
En-wrong: A prevents B to execute
En-right: A prevents B from executing
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i.e.   and   e.g. That  or  Which?
That introduces essential information
i.e. means that is Which introduces extra information
Example: These parameters (i.e., deadline and period)
Examples
Note  the comma 1. Frank sings “Fly me to the moon”, that/which many people like. (which)

e.g. means for example 2. Jack likes a Mexican restaurant that/which is on South Street. (that)

Example: Safety critical applications (e.g., avionics) 3. Joe talked about EDF, that/which is better than Rate Monotonic. (which)
4. The algorithm that/which is presented in this paper is optimal. (that)

Note that the comma is used

before which but not before that
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Between  or  Among? a higher   or   an higher?
General rule (it depends on the pronunciation of 'h')
Between used for choices involving distinct items
a is used when the initial 'h' is pronounced
Among used for items that are NOT distinct (e.g., a hammer, a hair, a hat, a hint)

Examples
an is used when the initial 'h' is NOT pronounced
(e.g., an hour, an honor)
1. You have to select between/among black and white. (between)
Examples
2. In a distributed system, the information is spread
between/among all the nodes. (among)  Give me … hot topic to study (a)
3. This buffer is shared between/among periodic and (between)  I’m using … heuristic search (a)
aperiodic tasks.
 He is … honest guy (an)
4. There is a significant difference between/among (between)
 I proposed … holistic approach (a)
hard, soft, and firm tasks.
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 I have … huge garden (a) 18

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a union   or   an union? Some time ‐ sometime ‐ sometimes

General rule (it depends on the pronunciation of 'u')
a is used when the initial 'u' has a long sound A period of time
(e.g., a union, a use) Some time
You must give some time to your students
an is used when the initial 'u' has a short sound
(e.g., an underground, an unhappy) At an indefinite time in the future, sooner or
Sometime later
Examples Please call me sometime.
 Give me … umbrella (an)
Occasionally, from time to time, not always
 I found … upper bound sometimes
(an) Sometimes I don’t understand what he says.
 The task set has … utilization of (a)
 Music is … universe of notes (a) 19 20

Although ‐ Despite ‐ In spite of Punctuation

An English professor asked his students to punctuate the
Although They are used before nouns or pronouns following sentence to better understand its meaning:
Despite “A woman without her man is nothing”
It is used before a verb phrase
In spite of
Male students wrote:
Examples
“A woman, without her man, is nothing”
Despite
.…...…… having a PhD, he could not find a job.
………… he has a PhD, he could not find a job.
Although Female students wrote:
We were able to play soccer today in…............
spite of the rain. “A woman:  without her,  man is nothing”
Although
………… he studied very hard, he didn’t pass the exam.
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Punctuation Punctuation
no comma
 Do not use the comma to separate subject and verb:
NO: The integrated approach proposed in this paper, is able to
minimize energy consumption optimize performance and wrong: The algorithm presented in this paper, has
save memory so that it can also be used in small embedded been implemented on a multicore platform.
systems. missing commas
 Unless there is another sentence in between:
Can you identify the mistake(s)?
right: The algorithm presented in this paper, which
has a polynomial complexity, has been
YES: The integrated approach proposed in this paper is able to implemented on a multicore platform.
minimize energy consumption, optimize performance, and
save memory, so that it can also be used in small embedded
systems.
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Spacing Spacing
 Leave a space after any punctuation mark or close  Leave a space between a number and its unit:
parenthesis
correct wrong
wrong: There are three possible (atomic)moves in this
game:left, right, and front.Moving backward is 5 cm 5cm
forbidden. 45 ms 45ms
 Do not leave a space before a punctuation mark or 32 °C 32°C or 32° C
close parenthesis 20 kN m 20 kNm or 20 k Nm
50 % 50%
wrong: There are three possible ( atomic ) moves in this
game : left , right, and front . Moving backward is
forbidden.

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Other things to know about units Other things to know about units
Find the correct abbreviations: Find the correct sentence:

3000 bytes can be abbreviated as 1. This is a processor with 8-bits wrong

1. 3 Kbyte wrong 2. This is a processor with 8 bits correct
Unit symbols do not
2. 3 Kbytes wrong have a plural form 3. This is a 8 bits processor wrong
3. 3 kbyte correct 4. This is a 8-bits processor wrong
4. 3 kbytes wrong The unit symbol for kilo correct
5. This is a 8-bit processor
is k, not K
5. 3 kb wrong 6. This is a 8-bit-processor wrong
6. 3 kbs wrong The unit symbol for byte
7. 3 kB correct is B, not b
8. 3 KB wrong
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Listing items
When listing items, use the following rules:
 Put a colon (:) at the end of the initial sentence that
introduce the items (as in this example);
 Start each item with an upper case when sentences are
longer than a line (as in this example), otherwise start the
sentence with a lower case;
 End each sentence with a semicolon (;) if they are short
(as in this example), and with a period (.) if they are
longer or consist of multiple phrases; and
 Use the “and” conjunction at the end of the second last
item (as in this example).
 End the last item with a period (.).
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Listing items
This example consists of only three short items:
 first item;
 second item; and
 third item.
This example consists of the following longer items:
 The first item is a long paragraph that contains two
sentences separated by a period. Therefore the second
sentence must end with a period.
 The second item contains a shorter sentence, but it will
also end with a period for consistency.
 The third item contains two sentences. The second one
conclude the list.
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Citations real time    or    real‐time?

NO: As shown in [1], the problem is NP‐hard … • No dash when the word is used as a noun
YES: As shown by Baker [1] the problem is NP‐hard … The task is executed in real time.
• Use dash when the word is used as an adjective
NO: In [2] the authors proposed a new method for … This is a real-time task.
YES: Sha and Mok [2] proposed a new method for … New features will be included in next-generation cars.

Exceptions
NO: the system is prone to priority inversion, described in [3] … • off-line
YES: the system is prone to priority inversion [3] … • online
• ongoing

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And The:  when to use it?
• When joining two sentences with “and” do not repeat “to” avoid “the” when you mean all or any of that thing.
before the verbs or “of”, “by”, etc. before nouns:
Examples: I need help!
The purpose of this system is to improve efficiency and I don't eat cheese.
to reduce energy consumption. Do you like music?

The benefit of using operating systems is to take

advantage of concurrency and of resource management. use “the” when you refer to a specific thing.
This concept has been introduced by A and by B. Examples: Thanks for the help you gave me yesterday.
I didn't eat the cheese. It was green!
Did you like the music they played at the dance?

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Acronyms Acronyms
Do not capitalize the words composing an acronym,
 Don’t use acronyms without explaining them
unless they are proper names.
NO: A WSN is used for ...
It exploits Digital Scanning (DS) technology Incorrect YES: A wireless sensor network (WSN) is used for ...
It exploits digital scanning (DS) technology Correct
 Choose the article according to the way you pronounce
handled under Fixed Priority (FP) scheduling Incorrect the acronym:
handled under fixed priority (FP) scheduling Correct
Wrong: I bought a RFID tag.
under Earliest Deadline First (EDF) scheduling Correct
Right: I bought an RFID tag.
under earliest deadline first (EDF) scheduling Incorrect

The Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) is a method Incorrect

The fast Fourier transform (FFT) is a method Correct
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Acronyms ‐ plural US  vs.  UK

US UK
• Add an s for plurals and ’s for possession:
color colour
I bought two CDs (NOT CD’s) behavior behaviour
gray grey
The CD’s surface is scratched. toward towards
to analyze to analyse
• Add es for plurals of acronyms ending with S: draft draught
while whilst
RTOSes should be used for time critical applications on upon
dialog dialogue
check cheque
• Exceptions for single letters: program programme
All x’s variables must be set to zero canceled cancelled
modeling modelling
37 traveling travelling 38

Typical Pronunciation mistakes ‐ 1 Typical Pronunciation mistakes ‐ 2

Word Wrong Correct Word Wrong Correct

 parameter paramìter paràmeter  scenario shenario senario

 character charàcter kàracter  determine determàin detèrmin
 resource resurs risors  iteration aitereshon itereshon
 header hider heder  inertia ainersha inersha
 performance pèrformans perfòrmans  isolation isoleshon aisoleshon
 suspense sàspens suspèns  oscillation oshillashon ossilashon
 laboratory laboràtory làboratòry  allow allou allau
 open source open surs open sors  multiple maltipol moltipol
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Typical Pronunciation mistakes ‐ 3 Some words can have 2 pronunciations

Word Wrong Correct Word Correct (UK) Correct (USA)

 talk tolk tok  scheduling sheduling skeduling

 result result risàlt  direction dairecshon direcshon
 bullet ballet bullet/bollet  multi-core molti-cor moltai-cor
 report rèport ripòrt  utilization iutilaizeshon iutilizeshon

For hearing correct UK and US pronunciations, visit

dictionary.cambridge.org

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