what is the style and tense should be used in the technical writing.

1. IS3151 Technical Writing
Lecture 3 : Language – Style and Tense
Ms. Dinithika Appuhamy, MSc
E-mail – dinithika.appuhamy@connect.ust.hk
Department of Interdisciplinary Studies
Faculty of Engineering, University of Sri Jayawardenapura

2. Style: Wording
• Conciseness
• Precision and Hedging
• Universal and Existential Quantification
• Negatives
• Clichés
• Anthropomorphic Writing
• Malapropisms
• Homophones

3. Conciseness
“I have made this letter too long because I did not have
the free time to make it shorter”
- Blaise Pascal, 1656

4. Conciseness
“The microstructural analysis of
Mg-Al-Re ternary alloys of
different compositions revealed
the nature of the critical
intermetallic particles, while
differential thermal analysis
indicated the solidification
sequence.”
“By analysing the
microstructure of Mg-Al-Re
ternary alloys of different
compositions and employing
the differential thermal analysis
technique, both the
solidification sequence and the
nature of the intermetallic
phases that are critical for
providing creep resistance to
the alloy, were found

5. Precision and Hedging
• Use measurable quantities instead of approximating words
Most of the data was
unusable due to faulty
sensors.
78% of the data was
unusable due to faulty
sensors.
Sometimes it is necessary to use approximations when you do not
have data;
• When discussing future trends,
• Discussing pictorial data with no means to quantify.

6. Universal and Existential Quantification
• Be wary when using words such as “never”, “always” or “none”
• The second sentence sounds clearer.
None of the experiments, except for the previous set of
experiments indicated the presence of the AlCe phase.
Vs.
The current experiments (X to Y) did not indicate the
presence of the AlCe phase.

7. Negatives
• Use the opposite word instead of saying “do not”;
• Sometimes we have to use “do not” to preserve clarity;
• The system will not harm humans
Vs.
• The system will do humans no harm
Do not include = exclude
X substance was not present = X substance was absent

8. Clichés
• Avoid using colloquial terms;
Examples;
“Only time will tell”, “In this day and age”, “ballpark estimate”,
“state of the art”, “bottom line”

9. Anthropomorphic Writing
• Avoid projecting human emotions onto the inanimate;
Examples;
“The system failed miserably” or “The internet is evil”

10. Malapropisms
• Be wary of similar sounding words that have different meanings;
Examples;
“The added installation reduced the rate of heat transfer” – Insulation
“The air destiny drops with increasing altitude”: - Density

11. Homophones
• Similar to Malapropisms.
• Words that are pronounced the same with different spellings;
Examples;
Higher and Hire
Fourth and Forth
Coarse and Course
Hole and Whole
Shear and Sheer

12. Style: Tone
• Statement of facts and opinions
• Replacement of overused words
• Usage of humour
• 5 C’s of technical writing:
• Correctness
• Clarity
• Completeness
• Consistency
• Changeability

13. Statement of facts and opinions
• Unbiased statement of facts.
• Only report what was observed.
• Discuss the implications of what was found, objectively.
• Connect with literature.
• NEVER try to modify your data to fit a certain narrative.

14. Replacement of overused words
• The term “very” is used to heighten the meaning of a word.
• Overuse of this word may sound lazy.
• Replace with;
Very clear = transparent
Very often = frequent
Very simple = basic
Or as discussed before, replace with something quantifiable!

15. Usage of humour
• Usually not encouraged
• Documents of technical writing we deal with as engineers are
usually quite serious!
• When not to use humour;
Thesis, dissertations, project reports, journal articles, conference
papers etc.

16. The 5 C’s of technical writing
• Correctness – Is your information accurate?
• Clarity – Can the text be understood easily?
• Completeness – Have you talked about all that was relevant?
• Consistency – Do your points contradict? Is the formatting
harmonious?
• Changeability – Can you go back and change errors easily?

17. Tenses

18. Introduction
• Common misconception;
Technical documents are written in the past tense
• This not entirely true, in reality we use the present, past and
future tenses in our writing

19. The Present Tense
• When to use;
1. When describing well established findings or current truths
2. When reporting results that are applicable only under
certain conditions
3. During the discussion of the implications of results

20. The Present Tense (1)
• Well established truths or current truths = what is considered
true as of now, or scientific laws.
Examples;
“Light weight Mg-Al alloys are a popular alloy in the automotive industry due
to their low weight to strength ratio”
“Newton's law of cooling states that the rate of heat loss of a body is directly
proportional to the difference in the temperatures between the body and its
surroundings”
“It has been shown that biplane wing configurations are more favourable
than monoplane wing configurations”

21. The Present Tense (2)
• When reporting results that are applicable only under certain
conditions
Example;
“This result is only applicable for instances where the
temperature is below 300 K”

22. The Present Tense (3)
• During the discussion of the implications of results
Example;
“The graphs indicate that as the Reynolds number drops, viscous
effects increase”

23. The Past Tense
• When to use;
1. When describing steps taken in the methodology.
2. When reporting past research in the review of literature.
3. When reporting results and what were observed.

24. The Past Tense (1)
• Describing the steps in your methodology/procedure;
Examples;
“A scanning electron microscope was used to analyse the microstructure
of the alloy samples”
“A CFD software was employed to simulate the flow characteristics”

25. The Past Tense (2)
• When reporting past research in the review of literature;
“Mueller and Scharpf performed experiments on two Wortmann FX
aerofoils and concluded that the tandem configuration reduced drag and
increased lift on the system” (Past Tense)
Vs
“It has been shown that biplane wing configurations are more favourable
than monoplane wing configurations” (Present Tense)

26. The Past Tense (3)
• When reporting results and what was observed;
Examples;
“The analysis revealed that a trace amount of substance X (0.02 %)
remained in the solution”
“Instances of flow separation on the surface of the flat plate were
observed during the experiment”

27. The Future Tense
• When to use;
When describing scenarios that may occur in the future.

28. The Future Tense
Examples;
“The current trend indicates that this phenomena may occur at
higher temperatures as well”
“The flow will remain attached as long as the free stream speed
is increased”
“The effect of variation of thickness could be explored in the
future”

29. Remarks;
• Read some journal articles and papers as an exercise and try to
identify the points we discussed today.
• Start practicing your writing and research skills for your
assignment.