Technical English: Fewer is better!

Technical English:Fewer is better! John Morris Faculty of Engineering,Mahasarakham University Computer Science/Electrical and Computer Engineering, The University of Auckland Iolanthe II leaves the Hauraki Gulf under full sail – Auckland-Tauranga Race, 2007

First Rule • Direct active sentences • Verbs not nouns! • Example: We made a measurement of the velocity • Grammatically correct, but … • Better We measured the velocity • Statistics • We said exactly the same thingbut used four words instead of seven!!

First Rule- Direct active sentences • Verbs not nouns! • What did we do to transform We made a measurement of the velocity to We measured the velocity • We took the noun ‘measurement’ and an auxilary verb ‘make’ and • Replaced both with the verb from of the noun • “Made a measurement”  “measured”

Active sentences • Verb is the important word • Remove all the meaningless verbs • More examples

Active sentences • Verb is the important word • Remove all those meaningless verbs • More examples

Useless words • Some words you can do without …. • Gave • Produced • Did • Formed • Used • Made • Acquire • You can almost always remove them and turn the following noun into a verb!

More examples .. • Most taken from real papers …. Relatively early, some scholars made researches on motion estimation .. Score: 9 words  5 words (44% less!) Some scholars studied motion estimation … • I’ve removed ‘relatively early’ also because it doesn’t add much .. • Verb is ‘studied’ (past tense) – unless it’s really important that it was a long time ago, it probably doesn’t matter how long ago … • Remove irrelevant detail to keep things short!!

More examples .. Score: 10 words  10 words () • Taken from real papers …. .. and variable block size motion estimation is not adopted here. .. and we do not estimate motion with varying block sizes. • Verb is ‘estimate’ • We didn’t achieve any word saving,but the sentence is direct .. ‘estimate’ instead of ‘estimation is adopted’

Tenses Topic 2

Tenses

Tenses … and there are some more !!!

Tenses – Good news

Tenses

Tenses • For scientific papers, you only need a few from the complete palette of English grammar • Present • Simple past • Perfect (sometimes, simple past almost always OK) • Future (if you have future work) • Leave use of others to the native speakers! • Your paper does not need them! • Remember your aim is to communicate ideas and results, not demonstrate mastery of English

Tenses • Hardest decision • Present or Past or Perfect? • Describing your experiments • ALWAYS SIMPLE PAST • We measured … • The mixture exploded … • Describing the work of others • SIMPLE PAST • Robertson reported that .. • Explosions were observed by … • PERFECT (sometimes) • Many researchers have observed … but • Many researchers observed … Is acceptable

Tenses • Hardest distinction • Simple past vs Perfect • Simple past • Actions that have occurred already • All your experiments • Perfect • Implies completeness • In the formal scientific theory, No experiment proves anything, it only provides support for a hypothesis • So experimental work is never complete!! • Perfect tense should not be used to describe it • Experiments can disprove theories so it’s reasonable to write • The experiments of x and yhavedemonstrated that this theory is not valid • Again • The experiments of x and y demonstrated that this theory is not valid • is acceptable If you use simple past only, then you will make very few real mistakes!!

Examples What is the correct form of the verb to use? The present singular form of the verb is given in blue. Work out the correct tense, voice (active or passive) and number (singular or plural form, eg ‘need’ or ‘needs’). Introduction Recent developments in real-time stereo (allow) us to capture dense depth maps at 30fps for high resolution images (1Mpixel or more). Real-time depth information in addition to intensity images (can) be used for a wide range of tasks such as segmentation, object extraction and scene reconstruction. Systems which (can)generate dense high resolution disparity maps in real-time (report): Greisen et al'ssystem (use) correlation based algorithm for disparity estimation using an FPGA, GPU and CPU [Greisen2011] whereas Morris et al(implement) Symmetric Dynamic Programming Stereo (SDPS) [Gimelfarb2002] on an FPGA [Morris2009c,Morris2009d]. Introduction from our paper to be presented at IVCNZ, Dunedin, NZ next week

Examples What is the correct form of the verb to use? The present singular form of the verb is given in blue. Work out the correct tense and number (singular or plural form, eg ‘need’ or ‘needs’). Introduction Recent developments in real-time stereo allow us to capture dense depth maps at 30fps for high resolution images (1Mpixel or more). Real-time depth information in addition to intensity images can be used for a wide range of tasks such as segmentation, object extraction and scene reconstruction. Systems which can generate dense high resolution disparity maps in real-time have been reported: Greisen et al'ssystem uses correlation based algorithm for disparity estimation using an FPGA, GPU and CPU [Greisen2011] whereas Morris et alimplemented Symmetric Dynamic Programming Stereo (SDPS) [Gimelfarb2002] on an FPGA [Morris2009c,Morris2009d]. Introduction from our paper to be presented at IVCNZ, Dunedin, NZ next week

Examples What is the correct form of the verb to use? The present singular form of the verb is given in blue. Work out the correct tense and number (singular or plural form, eg ‘need’ or ‘needs’). Introduction Recent developments in real-time stereo allow us to capture dense depth maps at 30fps for high resolution images (1Mpixel or more). Real-time depth information in addition to intensity images can be used for a wide range of tasks such as segmentation, object extraction and scene reconstruction. Systems which can generate dense high resolution disparity maps in real-time have been reported: Greisen et al'ssystem used correlation based algorithm for disparity estimation using an FPGA, GPU and CPU [Greisen2011] whereas Morris et alimplemented Symmetric Dynamic Programming Stereo (SDPS) [Gimelfarb2002] on an FPGA [Morris2009c,Morris2009d]. Introduction from our paper to be presented at IVCNZ, Dunedin, NZ next week

Examples What is the correct form of the verb to use? The present singular form of the verb is given in blue. Work out the correct tense, voice (active or passive) and number (singular or plural form, eg ‘need’ or ‘needs’). Previous work Mianet al.(discuss)a Point-of-Interest detection technique using depth maps from range images only[Mian2008,Mian2010]. Vikstenet al. also (use) range data to detect Points-of-Interest with an extended Harris corner detector[Viksten2008]. Stederet al. [Steder2011] (use) a technique which first (classify) object borders and then (locate) Points-of-Interestbut it (design) for range data and (is)computationally expensive. Holzeret al.(use) a learning based Point-of-Interestdetection technique from Kinect data[Holzer2012], Flint et al. [Flint2007] (describe) distinctive scene features and Rusuet al. [Rusu2009] (identify) rigid objects in indoor environment using a laser range finder. Introduction from our paper to be presented at IVCNZ, Dunedin, NZ next week

Examples Each sentence is OK by itself! What is the correct form of the verb to use? The present singular form of the verb is given in blue. Work out the correct tense and number (singular or plural form, eg ‘need’ or ‘needs’). Previous work Mianet al.discuss a Point-of-Interest detection technique using depth maps from range images only[Mian2008,Mian2010]. Vikstenet al. also use range data to detect Points-of-Interest with an extended Harris corner detector[Viksten2008]. Stederet al. [Steder2011] used a technique which first classifies object borders and then locates Points-of-Interest but it is designed for range data and is computationally expensive. Holzeret al.used a learning based Point-of-Interest detection technique from Kinect data[Holzer2012], Flint et al. [Flint2007] describe distinctive scene features and Rusuet al. [Rusu2009] identify rigid objects in indoor environment using laser range finder. But there is a mixture of present and past tenses! Consistency is important – do not switch styles! Introduction from our paper to be presented at IVCNZ, Dunedin, NZ next week This is what my student wrote … Consistent simple past is better here! Switching style distracts your readers! They are asking themselves: Is there some reason for the change? If there is not, their understanding of your work is slowed down! They will regard your work more highly if they can understand it quickly!

Examples What is the correct form of the verb to use? The present singular form of the verb is given in blue. Work out the correct tense and number (singular or plural form, eg ‘need’ or ‘needs’). Describing work in other papers You can use either present tense: You’re telling your reader what he or she can find in a reference now – It’s as if the paper is talking to the reader! or pasttense: This is what the authors wrote in 200x. Important Rule Choose one or the other and be consistent! Use either present everywhere .. or past everywhere. I have a slight preference for past here .. Previous work Mianet al.discusseda Point-of-Interest detection technique using depth maps from range images only[Mian2008,Mian2010]. Vikstenet al. also usedrange data to detect Points-of-Interest with an extended Harris corner detector[Viksten2008]. Stederet al. [Steder2011] used a technique which first classifies object borders and then locates Points-of-Interest but it wasdesigned for range data and is computationally expensive. Holzeret al.used a learning based Point-of-Interest detection technique from Kinect data[Holzer2012], Flint et al. [Flint2007] describeddistinctive scene features and Rusuet al. [Rusu2009] identifiedrigid objects in indoor environment using a laser range finder. Introduction from our paper to be presented at IVCNZ, Dunedin, NZ next week Consistent past tense ..

Examples What is the correct form of the verb to use? The present singular form of the verb is given in blue. Work out the correct tense and number (singular or plural form, eg ‘need’ or ‘needs’). Previous work Mianet al.discusseda Point-of-Interest detection technique using depth maps from range images only[Mian2008,Mian2010]. Vikstenet al. also usedrange data to detect Points-of-Interest with an extended Harris corner detector[Viksten2008]. Stederet al. [Steder2011] used a technique which first classifies object borders and then locates Points-of-Interest but it wasdesigned for range data and is computationally expensive. Holzeret al.used a learning based Point-of-Interest detection technique from Kinect data[Holzer2012], Flint et al. [Flint2007] describeddistinctive scene features and Rusuet al. [Rusu2009] identifiedrigid objects in indoor environment using a laser range finder. Introduction from our paper to be presented at IVCNZ, Dunedin, NZ next week Consistent past tense ..

Examples What is the correct form of the verb to use? The present singular form of the verb is given in blue. Work out the correct tense and number (singular or plural form, eg ‘need’ or ‘needs’). Experiment For the 8-bit images, which we (use) in our experiments we (assign)  = 15. The algorithm (use) to compute Ledge and Redge(is) not critical: any one (use).

Examples What is the correct form of the verb to use? The present singular form of the verb is given in blue. Work out the correct tense and number (singular or plural form, eg ‘need’ or ‘needs’). Experiment For the 8-bit images, which we used in our experiments we assigned = 15. The algorithm used to compute Ledge and Redgeis|wasnot critical: any one could be used.

Examples What is the correct form of the verb to use? The present singular form of the verb is given in blue. Work out the correct tense and number (singular or plural form, eg ‘need’ or ‘needs’). Conclusion We (introduce) a fast and reliable Point-of-Interest detection technique for noisy depth maps which (use) all available information - left image, right image and disparity map. Some simple tracking sequences (use) to show how the ‘Triple Edge’ points (enable) us to rapidly locate objects in a scene for subsequent processing exercises.

Examples What is the correct form of the verb to use? The present singular form of the verb is given in blue. Work out the correct tense and number (singular or plural form, eg ‘need’ or ‘needs’). Conclusion We introduced a fast and reliable Point-of-Interest detection technique for noisy depth maps which uses all available information - left image, right image and disparity map. Some simple tracking sequences were used to show how the ‘Triple Edge’ points enableus to rapidly locate objects in a scene for subsequent processing exercises. Past .. This is what we did Present in dependent clauses .. This is current capability Past OK here .. Consistent with past of primary clause

Examples What is the correct form of the verb to use? The present singular form of the verb is given in blue. Work out the correct tense and number (singular or plural form, eg ‘need’ or ‘needs’). High resolution real-time stereo matching systems (need) to evaluate billions of disparity values per second. Our dynamic programming based stereo matching system on GPU inevitably (trade)some matching accuracy for speed. Thus 3D point clouds from our system (is)noisy and contain artifacts, which (hinder) tracking accuracy. We (reduce) the effects of dynamic programming streaks in the depth maps with these steps:an efficient joint colour-disparity filtering (segment) foreground; a fast clustering procedure based upon a set of simple volume rules (identify) candidate objects; an opportunistic tagging system (track) objects through occlusions and Kalman filtering (predict) next frame positions. Abstract from our paper to be presented at IVCNZ, Dunedin, NZ next week

Examples What is the correct form of the verb to use? The present singular form of the verb is given in blue. Work out the correct tense and number (singular or plural form, eg ‘need’ or ‘needs’). High resolution real-time stereo matching systems need to evaluate billions of disparity values per second. Our dynamic programming based stereo matching system on GPU inevitably tradessome matching accuracy for speed. Thus 3D point clouds from our system are noisy and contain artifacts, which hinder tracking accuracy. We reduced the effects of dynamic programming streaks in the depth maps with these steps:an efficient joint colour-disparity filtering segments foreground; a fast clustering procedure based upon a set of simple volume rules identifies candidate objects; an opportunistic tagging system tracksobjects through occlusions and Kalman filtering predicts next frame positions. Introduction part: present Abstract from our paper to be presented at IVCNZ, Dunedin, NZ next week ‘What we did’ part: past Steps in our procedure: present (this is what happens if you repeat the work) Steps in our procedure: past OK (this is what we did in our experiments)

Technical English WorkshopNext topic - Noun phrases I will be in Singapore and Sattahip next week! Preparing a yacht for sailing from Singapore to Thailand! There will be no class on November 29. Next workshop will be December 6.

Technical English: Fewer is better!