The use of the root form or present participle form of a verb Thread poster: jyuan_us
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jyuan_us 
United States
Local time: 08:51
Member (2005)
English to Chinese
+ ...
Hello everybody,
When one needs to translate into English a bullet point list that contains the steps that make up a process, should they use the root form or present participle form (the verb + ing form) of the verb in each point? For example, if the source file contains a bullet point list that can be roughly translated into English as:
- Turn on the system;
- Scan the barcode; and
- Print the label.
Are the verbs correctly used in terms of th... See more Hello everybody,
When one needs to translate into English a bullet point list that contains the steps that make up a process, should they use the root form or present participle form (the verb + ing form) of the verb in each point? For example, if the source file contains a bullet point list that can be roughly translated into English as:
- Turn on the system;
- Scan the barcode; and
- Print the label.
Are the verbs correctly used in terms of their form in the above list? Or, should the list be changed to:
- Turning on the system;
- Scanning the barcode; and
- Printing the label.
I have the feeling that if the list is used for instructional purpose, the verbs should be in their root forms. If, however, the list appears in a test report that describes what the lab technician did, should the verbs be changed to their present participle forms?
Any input will be highly appreciated.
[Edited at 2023-09-21 05:08 GMT] ▲ Collapse
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I would say that both forms are quite correct. Which is more appropriate would depend on the context.
If it's a set of instructions, then I agree with you that the infinitive form is probably better. In your second example, describing what the lab technician did, I would use the past tense, and I probably wouldn't write it as a bulleted list at all.
Context is everything, and you didn't provide any.
| | | | Lingua 5B
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Local time: 14:51
Member (2009)
English to Croatian
+ ...
| Never saw the -ing form in such a context | Sep 21, 2023 |
The -ing form would be unusual.
Infinitive or more precisely imperative verb ie. command word is to go, because you are instructing someone to do something. So, the first option often accompanied by “Please” for some reason.
| | | | | As Philip says, both forms are correct | Sep 21, 2023 |
But it does depend on what goes before the list. If, for example, the preceding text says something like:
"The process involves the following:"
then the -ing form sounds best.
If, however, the texts says something like:
"To run the job, do the following:"
then the infinitive form is correct.
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| Bare infinitive = the imperative form | Sep 21, 2023 |
jyuan_us wrote:
- Turn on the system;
- Scan the barcode; and
- Print the label.
Are the verbs correctly used in terms of their form in the above list? Or, should the list be changed to:
- Turning on the system;
- Scanning the barcode; and
- Printing the label.
Your first example is a list of instructions, where the bare infinitive is used for the imperative form.
Maybe it's me, but I try to avoid writing 'and' after a semicolon.
Updated to remove the hyphen between 'semi' and 'colon'.
[Edited at 2023-09-21 19:11 GMT]
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