Some common faults in writing scientific papers in English

摘要

Based on the authors experience working in China, some common mistakes of usage or grammar found in scientific papers written in English by young Chinese scientists and postgraduate students are summarised. These include issues with the tense of verbs, with knowing when to use singular and plural forms of verbs or nouns, with use of the words could, would, and should, with expression of numbers, as well as differences between written and oral English, and incorrect use of the tilde. Examples are provided, and methods for improving written English are discussed.