Common errors in Technical writing

There are common in technical writing which occur with great frequency.

Special Subject-Verb Relationships

o The subject of a sentence must agree with the verb in number,
example that a singular subject demands singular verb and a
plural subject verb and a plural subject demands plural verb.
Sentences in which the subject is essentially plural but
technically (or grammatically) singular. Example:
1. Either of these power supplies is satisfactory. (Since
either is singular, is must be used instead of
are but many writers let the prepositional phrase
with the plural object supplies mislead them into
choosing are.)
Others are Neither, one, everyone, each
contain similar pitfall
2. Everyone in the organization makes a weekly
progress report. (Several people are obviously
involved, but everyone takes a singular verb.)
3. This group of elements is characterized by similar
properties. (Group is singular. When the group is
being considered as a whole, it can be treated as a
single entity. Sometimes, depends on whether the
verb is referencing the group itself or the members
of the group directly)

Vague Use of This, and It

o Since a pronoun conveys no information in itself but is
meaningful only in reference to the word or phrase for which it
stands, the reference should be unmistakably clear.
o Ambiguity is the fault when the reference is not clear. Notice the
lack of clearly defined reference in the following sentences:
1. Thomas was always unprepared for class. It made his
teacher increasingly mad.
2. Thomas was always unprepared for class. This made
his teacher increasingly mad.
(The underlined words represent vague pronouns because a
reader cannot tell to which noun the pronoun in each example
is referring. Never did we know that Thomas is an object, so
why use It?
By definition, pronouns, which take the place of a noun,
cannot refer to an idea expressed in an entire sentence or

statement; instead, a pronoun must refer back to a specific

noun.)
Possible Ways to Fix Vague Pronouns
You could replace it with a noun:
Thomas was always unprepared for class, and his
constant unpreparedness drove his teacher crazy.
You could add a noun to this:
Thomas was always unprepared for class, and this habit
of his drove his teacher crazy.

Dangling Modifiers
o A dangling modifier is a phrase or clause which says something
different from what is meant because words are left out. The
meaning of the sentence, therefore, is left "dangling."
o One of which to modify logically or grammatically, or one which
seems to modify a word it cannot possibly modify.
o In technical writing, dangling participial and dangling infinitive
phrases are very common, mainly because of the difficulties of
describing actions in the passive voice.
Dangling Verbal Modifiers:
1. Walking down the street, the sky was a brilliant blue.
(Grammatically, this sentence implies that the sky
was walking down the street, and this is clearly not
the writer's intention.)
Rewrite it by:
Walking down the street, I noticed the sky was a brilliant
blue.
While I was walking down the street, the sky was a
brilliant blue.
2. Shocked by the gravity of the situation, something
had to be done. (Here, one could interpret that
something is shocked by the gravity of the situation.)
Rewrite it by:
Shocked by the gravity of the situation, they knew they
had to do something.

Dangling Infinitive Modifiers:

1. To complete the survey properly, the form must be
signed and sealed in the provided envelope. (The
form is obviously not the one completing the survey.)

Rewrite it by:
To complete the survey properly, participants must sign
and seal the form in the provided envelope.

Lack of Parallel Structure

o Parallelism means the use of grammatical structure in writing
clauses, phrases, or words expressing ideas or facts which are
roughly equal in value.
o With elements joined by coordinating conjunctions, especially
and, but and or.
A failure to maintain parallelism results in what is called a
shifted construction. (A shift away from topics in the subject of
the sentence; a shift in tense.) Parallelism is made clearer by
these illustrations:
Parallelism of Word form:
1. His report was both accurate and it was easy to read.
(The words accurate and it was easy to read are
words that are not parallel to each other. This would
be correct if the sentence would be, His report was
both accurate and readable. Both introduces two
adjectives which describe the report.)
2. The process is completed by sanding, varnishing, and
the buffing of the finish. (The last item in the series is
not parallel with the first two. So this would be
correct if the sentence would be The process is
completed by sanding, varnishing, and buffing the
finish.)

Parallelism of Phrases:
1. Preparation of the soldering iron, making the joint,
and application of the solder constitute the main
steps in soldering an electrical connection. (Here, not
all the initial terms of the phrases are participial to
make the construction parallel. A correct parallelism
would give us something like this: Preparing the
soldering iron, making the joint, and applying the
solder.)

Parallelism of Clauses:
1. That this machine is superior to the others and this
superiority is demonstrated by adequate tests have
been made clear in the report. (The introductory
that, fail to be parallel to the word this that make
the parallelism unclear. This would be correct if the
sentence would be That this machine is superior to
the others and that this superiority is demonstrated
by adequate tests have been made clear in the
report.)

Mechanics of Style
What we mean by the term mechanics of style is the use of abbreviation,
numbers, symbols, word forms, capitals, italics, and punctuation.
The rules below, are based on those accepted by the most widely recognized
authorities and may be used with confidence.

Abbreviations
Abbreviations should be used only when they are certain to be
understood by the reader. Certain terms, of course, are
commonly abbreviated everywhere Dr., Mr., No., and the like.
1. Do not use periods after abbreviations unless the omission
would cause confusion, as where the abbreviation is identical
to a word. Thus write in. rather than in because the latter
might be mistaken for the preposition. (Some exceptions are
cot for cotangent, sin for sine, and log for logarithm.
These abbreviations could scarcely be confused with the
words.)
2. Do not add an s to form the plural of an abbreviation. The
number preceding an abbreviation of a unit of measurement
sufficiently marks the expression as plural. Thus write 128
bbl rather than 128 bbls. (Exceptions are Nos., Figs., Vols.
In foot notes, the plural of pages is given as pp.)
3. Write abbreviations in lower case letters rather than capitals
unless theterm abbreviated is a proper noun. Thus write hp
rather that H.P. or HP for horsepower.
4. Abbreviate titles only when they precede a proper name
which is prefaced by initials or given names. Write Professor
Jones rather than Prof. Jones, Prof. J. K. Jones is
acceptable.

Symbols

Symbols are generally to be avoided in text, they are justifiable

in tables, diagrams, and the like because of the need to conserve
space. You are most probably familiar with most of the commonly
accepted symbols, such as:
for inches
for feet
x for by
# for number
/ for per
& for and
% for percent
for degree are so commonly used in text that most
readers are as familiar with the symbol as with the spelledout term.

Numbers
1. Use figures for exact numbers for ten and above and spell out
numbers below ten.
a. 10 days
b. Eight resistors
c. Five tubes
d. 27 motors
2. Use figures in giving a number of technical units, as with units
of measurement, whether below or above ten:
a. 2500 hp
b. 28, 000 Btu
3. Spell out either the shorter or the first number in writing
compound number adjectives.
a. Thirty 12 in. bolts
b. 8 six-cylinder engines
4. Do not use two numerals in succession where confusion may
occur.
a. On August 12, eleven transformers burned out.
5. Use numerals for the numbers of pages, figures, diagrams,
units, and the like:
a. Fig. 8, stage 4, page 6, unit No. 5, Diagram 14

Capitalization
o We have learned to capitalize proper names, names of cities, and
states, official titles and organizations, and so on.
1. Capitalize all important words in titles, division headings, and
caption.
2. Capitalize Figure, Table, Volume, Number, as part of titles.
Thus reference would be made to Figure 4, Table 2.