Techical Report Writing

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Kaos

#483250 Fri, 29 Feb 08 04:09 PM

Hi,

Awhile ago, I asked whether one should use simple past for describing observation of an experiment that has already been carried out. Many adviced using simple past. I recently read an article and I found the author (she is an American) mixed both. Here is an excerpt from her article:

Article
The first Fast Retransmit in Figure 4 results from three
dup acks for packet 25. The second Fast Retransmit results
from three dup acks for packet 42, the last packet transmitted
before the first Fast Retransmit was initiated.
Because the x-axis shows the time that packets appeared
on a link within the network, the sequence of events at the
sender has to be inferred from the graph. After the first Fast
Retransmit, when the sender's congestion control window
reaches four, the sender transmits packets 29-32. The sender
receives an ACK for packet 29, and transmits packets 33 and
34. Next the sender receives an ACK for packet 30, and
retransmits packets 35 and 36. Finally, the sender receives
two dup acks for packets 42 (as responses to packets 31 and
32). At this point the congestion window is 6, and the sender
transmits packets 43-48.

She was discussing about an observation which was plotted on a graph (not shown). At first, she used simple past (in the first paragraph), and then in the second paragraph, she started to elaborate in simple present. Is this correct and why? I am confused now.

Kaos

Joined on Thu, Jun 1 2006

fr0m a k@0tic VV0rld

Junior Member (63)

Articles, Simple past, Paragraphs

Clive

#483271 Fri, 29 Feb 08 04:58 PM

Hi,

At first, she used simple past . . .

I see almost all 'present' here, including the start of the first paragraph.

Clive

Joined on Thu, Oct 28 2004

Canada

Veteran Member (21,162)

El tango argentino es un pensamiento triste que se puede bailar (The tango argentino is a sad thought which can be danced) Enrique Santos Discépolo

Simple past, Paragraphs

Kaos

#483289 Fri, 29 Feb 08 05:33 PM

mm..

Article
The first Fast Retransmit in Figure 4 results from three
dup acks for packet 25. The second Fast Retransmit results
from three dup acks for packet 42, the last packet transmitted
before the first Fast Retransmit was initiated.

and then at the beginning of the second paragraph:

Article
Because the x-axis shows the time that packets appeared
on a link within the network..

So it is simple present okay for report writing?

Kaos

Articles, Simple present, Paragraphs

Clive

#483312 Fri, 29 Feb 08 06:55 PM

Hi,

So it is simple present okay for report writing?

No. Very generally speaking, a report should normally use past tense, because it is reporting past events.

eg Heat was applied to the chemical. At 40 degrees, it ignited.

eg When I searched the robber, I found he had a gun in his pocket. I arrested him.

However, again generally speaking, I would use present tense if I were describing something that I am looking at.

eg a graph, as in your example. This graph shows sales figures for the last 5 years.

You can, of course, mix the two tenses, eg This graph shows the number of TV sets that we sold in the last 5 years.

Best wishes, Clive

Clive

Simple present, Tenses, Numbers, Present tenses, Past tenses

Marius Hancu

#483359 Fri, 29 Feb 08 09:38 PM

See these sites:

Notes on English Composition

written by Glenn Paquette

This is the first in a planned series of notes on English composition. These notes are intended as a reference for the writing of academic works to be used by ``non-native" physicists and mathematicians. They are specifically designed to help Japanese writers, but hopefully they will be found useful by a wider audience.

http://www2.yukawa.kyoto-u.ac.jp/~ptpwww/eng-note/e-note.html

Verb Tense Consistency

Dr. Judith M. Newman

http://www.lupinworks.com/roche/pages/tenses.php

Marius Hancu

Joined on Wed, Apr 26 2006

Montreal, Canada

Veteran Member (11,673)

Verbs, Tenses

Susankay

#483371 Fri, 29 Feb 08 10:28 PM

Because this is a description of a "process" it might fall under "report" or "story telling" style of writing.

Example:

The wedding has been cancelled. Mary buy a dress and he sees it and goes ballistic about it. "It's too low cut" he yells. She tells him he's a prude and throws his ring at him. The caterer was cancelled and everyone returned their gifts.

One story - several tenses.