Common Chinglish Errors in Academic Writing

Table of Contents

• Category 1: Sentence Structure
  • 1.1 Topic-Prominent Structure
  • 1.2 Run-on Sentences
  • 1.3 Missing Articles
• Category 2: Word Choice
  • 2.1 Weak Verbs
  • 2.2 Informal Expressions
  • 2.3 Redundant Expressions
• Category 3: Hedging (避免绝对化)
  • Forbidden Absolute Words
  • Academic Hedging
• Category 4: Tense Usage
  • Abstract
  • Introduction
  • Methods
  • Results
  • Discussion
• Category 5: Common Phrase Errors
  • Preposition Errors
  • Collocation Errors
• Category 6: Chinese-English Translation Patterns
  • 6.1 Direct Translation Errors
  • 6.2 Academic Expression Patterns
• Typst-Specific Notes
  • Comment Syntax
  • Common Typst Errors

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Category 1: Sentence Structure

1.1 Topic-Prominent Structure

❌ "This method, its advantage is obvious." ✅ "The advantage of this method is obvious."

1.2 Run-on Sentences

❌ "We propose a method it can solve the problem." ✅ "We propose a method that can solve the problem."

1.3 Missing Articles

❌ "Deep learning is popular technology." ✅ "Deep learning is a popular technology."

Category 2: Word Choice

2.1 Weak Verbs

Chinglish	Academic
make	construct, generate, produce, create
do	perform, conduct, execute, carry out
get	obtain, achieve, derive, acquire
use	employ, utilize, leverage, adopt
show	demonstrate, illustrate, reveal, indicate
find	discover, identify, observe, determine

2.2 Informal Expressions

Avoid	Use Instead
a lot of	numerous, substantial, considerable
big	significant, substantial, major
very	highly, considerably, substantially
things	factors, elements, aspects, components
good	effective, efficient, optimal, superior

2.3 Redundant Expressions

Redundant	Concise
completely eliminate	eliminate
future prospects	prospects
past history	history
basic fundamentals	fundamentals
advance planning	planning

Category 3: Hedging (避免绝对化)

Forbidden Absolute Words

• ❌ "obviously", "clearly", "certainly", "undoubtedly"
• ❌ "always", "never", "all", "none"
• ❌ "prove", "prove that" (unless mathematical proof)

Academic Hedging

• ✅ "It appears that...", "It seems that..."
• ✅ "The results suggest...", "The data indicate..."
• ✅ "This may be attributed to..."
• ✅ "One possible explanation is..."

Category 4: Tense Usage

Abstract

• Present tense for general statements
• Past tense for specific findings

Introduction

• Present tense for established facts
• Present perfect for recent developments

Methods

• Past tense (what you did)

Results

• Past tense for your findings
• Present tense for tables/figures ("Table 1 shows...")

Discussion

• Present tense for interpretations
• Past tense for referencing results

Category 5: Common Phrase Errors

Preposition Errors

Wrong	Correct
according with	according to
based in	based on
compare with (similar)	compare to (similar)
different with	different from
focus at	focus on

Collocation Errors

Wrong	Correct
do an experiment	conduct/perform an experiment
make a conclusion	draw/reach a conclusion
take efforts	make efforts
rise a question	raise a question
solve problems	address/tackle problems

Category 6: Chinese-English Translation Patterns

6.1 Direct Translation Errors

中文	❌ Chinglish	✅ English
越来越多	more and more	increasingly
近年来	in recent years	recently / since 2020
发挥重要作用	play an important role	is crucial for / enables
取得了很大进展	made great progress	has advanced significantly
随着...的发展	with the development of	as X advances / given advances in

6.2 Academic Expression Patterns

中文	English
本文提出...	We propose... / This paper presents...
实验结果表明...	Experimental results demonstrate that...
与...相比	Compared with... / In comparison to...
综上所述	In summary / In conclusion
值得注意的是	Notably / It is worth noting that

Typst-Specific Notes

Comment Syntax

// This is a single-line comment
/* This is a
   multi-line comment */

Common Typst Errors

❌ Using LaTeX syntax: \cite{} ✅ Using Typst syntax: @cite

❌ Using LaTeX math: \frac{a}{b} ✅ Using Typst math: $a/b$ or $(a)/(b)$

❌ Using LaTeX environments: \begin{figure} ✅ Using Typst functions: #figure(...)