English for Computer Science

Assignment 2

Due date: 12:00 pm, December 13, 2007

  1. In the following, each sentence either contains a bug or has a better way to say the same. Please rewrite them for correctness or readability or concision.

1)Microsoft has developed a series of OSes for personal computers.

2)The data structure has a negative affect on sales.

3)I like algorithms, however, I hate the hardness they have.

4)In a situation in which a computer is overloaded, you may close some running tasks.

5)There are likely to be many researchers raising questions about this methodological approach.

6)It is inevitable that oil prices will rise.

7)The hearing was planned for Monday, December 2, but not all of the witnesses could be available, so it was rescheduled for the following Friday, and then all the witnesses could attend.

8)OUC offers many majors in engineering. Such as electrical, chemical, and industrial engineering.

9)Less attention is paid to methods that lack beauty than to other kinds of methods.

10)Industrial spying, because of the growing use of computers to store and process corporate information, is increasing rapidly.

11)The dictionary can be used for these purposes: to find word meanings, pronunciations, correct spellings, and looking up irregular verbs.

12)The disk drive of the computer was damaged by the electrical surge.

13)Being a process that still needs to be refined, scientists are searching for a more effective method for string comparison.

14)Paying solitaire on the computer for three hours, John’s paper was not completed.

15)The boy struggled to ride his bike. The boy is four years old and he is feisty. The bike is new and it is a light blue color. The boy received the bike for his birthday. He struggled for two hours. However, he was unsuccessful in riding the bike

  1. Some one-word modifiers often cause confusion when misplaced in a sentence. Identify the difference in each paired sentences in the following.

1)

1)Almosteveryone in the class passed the calculus exam. vs Everyone in the class almost passed the calculus exam.

2)John nearly earned $100. vs John earned nearly $100.

  1. Next are some terminologies of Computer Science. For each of them please write a short passage explaining its meaning.

E.g., Beta Software: Beta versions of commercial software are work-in-progress test copies released prior to the full version. They are used to put the product through real-world tests and to ferret out bugs before the finished software hits the shelves. Betas often expire after a period of time, usually when the full version or the next beta is released.

1)Browser

2)Freeware

3)Virus

4)HTML

5)CPU

6)DNS

7)WYSIWYG

  1. For each of the following wordy phrases, give a word that can be used to trim its fat off.

E.g., because for due to the fact that

1)despite the fact that

2)under circumstances in which

3)has the opportunity to

  1. Complete the following text, describing graphs 1 and 2 below, using the words from the box.

Gradient,directly,coefficient,origin,linear,inversely, dependent, independent, constant, intercept, non-linear, intersects.

Graph 1 shows a (1)______relationship, whereas graph 2 is (2)______.

In graph 1, y is (3)______proportional to x i.e. y x. This could also be written y = kx+c. This graph does not pass through the (4)______, but (5)______the y axis at point p. At the y(6)______x=0 and y is therefore equal to the (7)______c. In order to work out the value of k, the (8)______of x, the x intercept, q, should be found. Substituting this value for x at y =0 will give the final formula.

In graph 2, y is (9)______proportional to x, i.e. y 1/x. The slope or (10)______of this graph is not constant and this representation is therefore of limited use.

In both of these graphs x is the (11)______variable and y is the (12)______variable; this is a standard convention when drawing graphs.

  1. The following graph provides information about an imaginary experiment in which effects of a mystery substance, A, on the growth rate of a seedling are measured.

Effects of substance A on the growth rate of a seedling

finish this paragraph describing the graph. You are required to describe the following portions of the graph:

days 2-6 day 6 days 6-7 8-10 10-14 and 14-20.

At the start of the experiment, the growth rate of the seedling was about 0.2mm/day. This steadily increased to 0.5 mm/day in the second day. Between days two and six there was...