(1) "fill in", "fill out", "fill up"
I was reviewing a user creation request form and noticed that there was a note on the form stating, "please fill up the form and submit it to..."
I read the sentence and felt something was not right. I would normally say "fill in the form", or "fill out the form", but not "fill up the form". I told my staff to amend the sentence, and she said this was how they have always said it and did not realise it was wrong.
Actually i've noticed that a lot of people in Asia would say "fill up a form". I am not too sure if it is really wrong, but generally Americans would say "fill out" while the Brits would say "fill in". To me, filling up something normally refers to making something with a capacity full, such as "fill up the gas" , "audiences filling up the auditorium". When we are talking about writing information into empty spaces on paper, it should be "fill in" or "fill out".
Of course, i do not claim to be an English guru, and so i may be wrong.
(2) Comma splice
This is definitely wrong in English grammar. It is a common mistake made by people with English as a second language, especially Chinese. It is probably because in Chinese language, we do use comma between complete sentences. Yet, in English, it is incorrect to use comma to join two independent clauses.
To illustrate my point, here's an email from one of my consultants to my boss (who complimented her for a job well done):
Thank you for this encouraging email.
First and foremost, I would like to say that I am not the lonely ranger in this project, I have my team members helping me, especially xxx & xxx, they are 'the man behind' me, who give me a great support and helpful hands anytime, no matter I called them during weekend, night time or their day-off, they will extend their support to me immediately, without their support, I definitely couldn't get the project go-live or even passed the UAT alone.
Therefore I would like to share this credit with them as well.
Ok, first of all, i know there are other grammar mistakes in the paragraphs. This consultant is weak in her English writing and communication skills, and she knows it too. Just forget about all other grammar mistakes for now and pay attention to the comma splices - notice how ALL sentences were joined by just commas?
Such writing is very common in a lot of emails and documents that my staff write. This may be the extreme case; most of the comma splices they made would be just two clauses, but it gets on my nerves because i feel that this is just the basics of English writing and they should get it right.
Having said that, in casual writing such as blogs, chats or personal emails, we may be guilty of comma splice too. Sometimes we may do so intentionally as a writing style in emphasising certain point. However, in official or formal writing, i do expect them to write in proper English.
Alright, that's all the English lesson for today. ;)
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