Common vocabulary pitfalls Adjectives vs adverbs -ing forms (present participles)

Common vocabulary pitfalls

The list is arranged alphabetically in Danish. You can either look up particular words or phrases that are causing you trouble (ctr + F), or you can browse alphabetically. We recommend that you familiarise yourself with the list by reading through it. You’re bound to find pits you’ve fallen into already without even knowing it. Once you’ve familiarised yourself with the contents of the list, you can return to it to refresh your memory as needed.

Danish expression	Pitfall/false friend	Correct translation
aktivitetstype	activity type	type of activity
aktuel	actual (e.g. the actual situation)	current, present (e.g. the current situation)
allerede	already	Avoid Danicisms such as ‘Already Napoleon believed in European unity’. Instead write ‘Napoleon believed in European unity a long time ago’ or something similar.
ansætte; ansættelse	appoint/employ; appointment/employment	There’s a difference between these two: 'appointment' refers to the moment at which you are appointed, while 'employment' refers to the state of being employed. (e.g. ‘I was appointed on 2 October, and my employment lasts until 3 March’)
Ansøgninger skal godkendes af studienævnet	Applications must be approved by the board of studies	Applications are subject to the approval of the board of studies
bedømmelsesform	assessment form	form of assessment
betragte som	consider as	regard as/consider to be (e.g. ‘This group can be regarded as/considered to be underprivileged’)
bidrage med	contribute with	contribute (e.g. ‘The researchers contributed their ideas to the conference’)
censor	censor	external/internal co-examiner
den enkelte (f.eks. 'den enkelte studerende')	the individual student	the student in question
Det afhænger af mange ting.	That depends of many things.	That depends on many things.
Det bruges i stadig flere uddannelser.	It is used in still more degree programmes.	It is used in an increasing number of degree programmes.
det enkelte uddannelseselement	the individual subject element	the degree (programme) element in question
Det er godt med frugtbart samarbejde.	It is good with fruitful cooperation.	Fruitful cooperation is a good thing.
Det hjælper på det.	It’s helping.	Things are getting better.
dispensation	exemption	dispensation (‘exemption’ can also mean fritagelse)
effektiv	effective	efficient (high output in relation to input) effective (having an effect)
egen (e.g. 'De studerende skal tage ansvar for egen læring'	own	their own ( ‘Students must take responsibility for their own learning')
eksamensform	exam form	form of examination
eksamenssprog	exam language	language of examination
eksaminationstid	exam duration	duration of examination
Emnet skal godkendes af vejlederen.	The topic must be approved by the supervisor.	The topic is subject to the approval of the supervisor.
en større konference	a larger conference	a major conference
erfaring med	experience with	experience of (e.g. ‘Stalin already had some experience of the problem’)
et halvt år	half a year	six months
eventuelt	eventually	possibly
forskellige ideer	different ideas	different ideas (in relation to a group of other ideas, anderledes) various ideas (different in relation to each other)
fremmed universitet	a foreign university	a university outside Denmark, a university abroad
halvandet år	one and a half year	one and a half years, eighteen months
Har du kommentarer til min artikel?	Have you got any comments to my article?	Have you got any comments on my article?
historisk	historic	historical (to do with history) historic (memorable)
hus	house	building house (a single-family home)
i begyndelsen af det 21. århundrede	in the beginning of the 21st century	at the beginning of the 21^st century
i disse år	in these years	at the current time
i mine øjne	in my eyes	in my view
invitere til	invite to	invite (e.g. ‘The idea invites discussion of the whole concept’)
Jeg er vant til at høre de argumenter.	I am used to hear those arguments.	I am used to hearing those arguments.
Jeg oplever, at …	I experience that …	I feel that …
kandidat	candidate	Use ‘candidate’ for people applying for a job, but ‘graduate’ for people who have completed a Bachelor’s or Master’s degree.
klassisk	classic	classical (music, for instance) classic (one of a kind) You could have a ‘classic’ Rolling Stones concert, but they would be extremely unlikely to play classical music.
kommentarer til	comments to	comments on (e.g. ‘Have you got any comments on my article?’)
kvalificere	qualify	Rephrase: ‘To base a debate on firmer foundations’, for instance
kvalificeret dialog	qualified dialogue	dialogue on a highly qualified basis (this is because ‘qualified’ can also mean med forbehold)
mindre	smaller	minor (when no actual comparison is involved - e.g. ‘I have a few minor amendments to make’)
nemlig	namely	Just use a colon instead of 'namely'.
noter til artiklen	notes to the article	notes on the article
nuanceret	nuanced	in a suitably varied/detailed fashion (e.g. ‘to express yourself in suitably varied/detailed fashion’)
Nu hjælper det!	Now it’s helping!	Things are getting better!
på den ene/anden side	on the one/other side	on the one/other hand
realisere	realise	achieve (e.g. ‘to achieve your goals’). ‘Realise’ can be problematic, because you could ‘realise’ that you had made a mistake, for instance. However, note the correct use of ‘realise’ in ‘to realise your assets’.
risikere at	risk to	risk + -ing (e.g. ‘If we do that, we risk running into further problems’)
sammenlignet med	compared with	compared with (to underline a difference) compared to (to underline a similarity)
selv om	even if/even though	‘Even if he comes I won’t be happy’ (He might or might not come, but I won’t be happy whatever happens.) ‘Even though he came I was not happy’ (He came, but I still wasn’t happy.)
selvstudium	self-study	autonomous/independent study
stadig flere	still more	an increasing number of (e.g. ‘This is used in an increasing number of degree programmes’)
studier	studies	Note the following examples: ‘I am tired of my studies’ (I'm tired of studying in generall) ‘I am tired of my degree programme’ (specifically)
større	larger	major (when no actual comparison is involved). Avoid the use of the Danish ‘false comparative’.
synlig tilstedeværelse	a visible presence	a high profile. Avoid using ‘visible’ in a metaphorical sense. It can be used in a literal sense though (e.g. ‘The police had a visible presence in Christiania’)
synspunkter	point of views	points of view
sympatisk	sympathetic	likeable
Sådan ser min forskning ud	This is how my research looks	This is what my research looks like
såsom for eksempel	such as for example	such as
tillader	allows for	allows, permits
til trods for beviserne	despite of the evidence	in spite of/despite the evidence
tre typer artikler	three types of articles	three types of article (The same thing applies to ‘kinds of’, ‘categories of’ etc.)
uddannelse	education	Note the following examples: ‘Education is good for you’ (education as a general concept) ‘I love my degree programme’ (specific reference)
udenlandsk studerende	foreign student	students from outside Denmark, students from abroad, international students
udenlandsk universitet	a foreign university	a university outside Denmark, a university abroad
udlænding	foreigner	non-Dane
udmeldte studerende	withdrawn students	Students who have withdrawn from the university. If you need to save space (in a table, for instance), you could just write ‘withdrawals’
uhåndgribelig	immaterial	intangible
Vil du læse din præsentation op?	Will you read your presentation up?	Will you read your presentation aloud?
vise sig at være	show to be	prove to be (e.g. 'The current situation has proved to be more serious than we first assumed')
økonomisk	economic	economic (if you are talking about nationaløkonomi) financial (personal finances, the university’s finances) economical (low consumption of resources, ‘an economical car with low petrol consumption’)

Adjectives vs adverbs

Non-native speakers of English tend to confuse adjectives and adverbs. Both add detail to a sentence by providing additional information about other words.

Adjectives

Adjectives modify (describe) nouns

A pretty house
The department produces ground-breaking research.
Given the international focus of the programme

Adjectives ending in –ly

Some adjectives end in –ly. These cannot be used as adverbs.

costly, cowardly, deadly, friendly, likely, lively, lonely, lovely, silly, ugly, unlikely (adjectives)
costlily, cowardlily, deadlily…. (non-existent adverbs)

Get around this problem by rephrasing:

She smiled in a friendly way.
She smiled friendlily.

He gave a silly laugh.
He laughed sillily.

Adverbs

Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives, other adverbs and sentences. Adverbs are easily recognised because they end in -ly (with a few exceptions). Most adjectives can be turned into adverbs through the addition of the suffix –ly.And generally, if a word answers the question how, it is an adverb.

Examples of adverbs modifying verbs

She was walking slowly. (How was she walking?)
The degree is offered internationally.
She was walking slow.

Examples of adverbs modifying adjectives

She was really happy. (How happy was she?)
She was real happy.

Given the increasingly competitive atmosphere of the programme….
Given the increasing competitive atmosphere of the programme….

Examples of adverbs modifying other adverbs

She spoke very loudly. (How did she speak?)
She spoke real loud.

The dancer leaped breathtakingly high.
The dancer leaped breathtaking high.

Examples of adverbs modifying sentences

Surprisingly, Stalin failed to annex Belgium before finishing his vodka.
Surprising, Stalin failed to annex Belgium before finishing his vodka.

Adverbs and adjectives that have the same form

Some adjectives and adverbs have the same form: for example, a fast car goes fast – or, if you do hard work, you work hard.

A fast car… (adjective)
The car goes fast. (adverb)

This is hard work. (adjective)
You work too hard. (adverb)

For more help with adverbs and adjectives, please consult Swan’s Practical English Usage (sections 12-19 and 20-25).

-ing forms (present participles)

-ing forms of verbs can be used as nouns, in which case they are called gerunds. They can also be used as adjectives, in which case they are called participles. Participles are particularly challenging for non-native speakers of English.

Of course, gerunds can be problematic in their own way. To find out more, see the Purdue Owl Online Writing Lab article on gerunds, participles and infinitives.

What is a participial -ing form?

An -ing form of a verb that is used as an adjective (Past participles ending in -ed, -en, -d, -t, -n or -ne can also be used as modifiers, but that’s another story.).

Being verbal forms, participles express action or a state of being. But grammatically they function as adjectives:

the burning platform
the purring cat
the continuing process

Participial phrases

You can use participles to construct more or less complex participial clauses that modify nouns.

Removing his coat, Nick returned to his seat.
Arriving at the restaurant, I found that it was closed.
Carrying a heavy bag of groceries, he caught his foot on a step and tripped.

Punctuating participial phrases

Set off the participial clause with commas.
Place the participial clause close to the noun it modifies. Otherwise you may end up saying something pretty silly…

I smelled the cinnamon buns coming down the stairs for dinner.
(Here your reader imagines walking pastry…the participial phrase appears to modify 'cinnamon buns', the closest noun.)
Coming down the stairs for dinner, I smelled the cinnamon buns.
(The participial phrase modifies 'I', which makes sense.)

In other words, avoid dangling modifiers (i.e. participles and participial phrases that describe an action that has no doer).
This means that you must make sure that your participial phrase has a clearly identifiable noun close by to modify. Your modifier will dangle if the noun it modifies appears in an earlier sentence or doesn’t appear at all – which will confuse your reader.

After reading the original study, I find the article unconvincing.
(‘After reading the original study’ modifies ‘I’)
After reading the original study, the article remains unconvincing.
(Who read the study?)

I was late for work again. Running for the bus, I dropped my briefcase in a puddle.
(‘Running for the bus’ modifies ‘I’)
I was late for work again. Running for the bus, my briefcase fell in a puddle.
(Was the briefcase running for the bus?)

For more help on dangling modifiers, see

Pitfalls for Danes