It is a known fact that plants generate oxygen by1 taking in carbon dioxide and thus purifying2 the air. Improving your property by adding trees and other large plants can therefore help you minimize the bad effects of pollution. Besides purifying the air, plants can reduce wind speeds and noise, control erosion, and3 influence4 the drifting of snow. To landscape property5 requires careful planning with the selecting6 of plants being based on their hardiness. While hardiness affects7 the suitability8 of the planting locale, it9 also may provide a longer-lasting10 result. If11 information such as prescribed guidelines, recommendations, and the advice12 of local greenhouse experts is not used,11 landscapers can risk misinterpretation of planting and growing requirements. Failure to comply with this information13 may result in an unsuccessful planting.

Spending the time and effort to landscape can not only improve the look and value of your property, but also can help save energy. This14 will help to reduce energy bills, especially15 those due to conditions occurring16 during summer months. Plants tend to soak up heat from the air and release water vapor, which17 acts as a coolant. In addition,18 trees help by reducing solar radiation and reflection, thereby preventing walls from heating up. Your19 property can be helped to cool down efficiently20 during the warm season by planting deciduous trees. Deciduous trees21 also help to warm it up during winter months by allowing the sun to shine through. Properly located22 shrubs can shade glass doors, windows, or exposed walls23 and minimize conducted heat, thereby keeping the overall temperature of the interiors down. Remember24 that a thoughtfully landscaped house can save significantly on energy costs compared to a house that lacks this feature.

Creating a25 beautiful landscape can greatly enhance the sales appeal of a property and potentially increase the overall26 property value. If you need additional information, our company recommends27 brochure number28 776, “Successful Landscaping.”

1. The preposition “by” is necessary to introduce the prepositional phrase “taking…dioxide.”
2. The verb “purify” should be changed to the inflected form “purifying” to create parallel sentence structure.
3. In a compound sentence composed of a series of short independent clauses with a conjunction joining the last two clauses, a comma is used before the conjunction.
4. The inflected verb form “influencing” should be changed to “influence” to create parallel sentence structure.
5. The term “Landscaping” is a gerund, i.e., a verb ending in -ing and used as a noun. Gerunds are common in the English language and, when used immediately preceding a noun (“property”), can often be mistaken for an adjective. Rewrite the sentence to reduce the likelihood of this mistake. In this case, the gerund was changed to the infinitive “To landscape.”
6. Use the inflected verb form “selecting” of the verb “select” rather than the noun form “selection.”
7. Homophones are words (often confused) that sound alike even if they differ in spelling, meaning, or origin, such as “effect” and “affect.” The primary meaning of the noun “effect” is "result” or “outcome;" the verb “affect” in this context means “influence.” The correct choice in this case is “affect.”
8. Do not omit articles (a, an, the) in text intended for translation. People in the United States often omit them when speaking or writing, but they are a very necessary element of the English language when a translator is attempting to discern the correct meaning of a phrase or sentence. The correct phrase here is “the suitability.”
9. “While…locale” is a sentence fragment consisting of only a dependent clause. It should be joined to the following complete sentence, on which it depends, with a comma.
10. The modifying adjectival phrase “longer-lasting” should be hyphenated.
11. The term “Should” is a verbal auxiliary, the past tense of shall, and makes the structure of the dependent clause “Should information…not be used” grammatically correct but unnecessarily difficult to translate. Rewrite the clause as “If information…is not used” to simplify it.
12. Homophones are words (often confused) that sound alike even if they differ in spelling, meaning, or origin, such as “advise” and “advice.” The primary meaning of the verb “advise” is "inform” or “recommend;" the noun form “advice” means “recommendation.” The correct choice in this case is the noun “advice.”
13. The object of the phrase “Failure to comply” is not obvious and could result in an incorrect translation based on assumption. Rewrite the sentence to restate the object (the previously mentioned information), even when it seems redundant.
14. The first sentence in this paragraph contains 38 words. A basic rule of thumb for text intended for translation is to strive for a maximum sentence length of 20 to 25 words. AVS has rewritten this one long sentence as two shorter sentences.
15. A comma should be used to separate the dependent clause “especially…months” from the main clause.
16. “Seen” is technically correct here, but the meaning in this context is not the primary definition of the word. Translators tend to be most familiar with the primary definitions for words, which makes sense when you consider that the word “just” has sixteen different meanings depending on the context in which it is used. To lower the risk of confusion, use a word that more directly conveys the contextual meaning, such as “occurring.”
17. The following distinction between the relative pronouns “that” and “which” is very important when considering translation. When the relative pronoun “that” is used in the original paragraph to introduce a restrictive clause, “acts…coolant,” the resulting sentence structure implies that only a certain type of water vapor (water vapor that acts as a coolant) is being discussed here, and implies there are other forms of water vapor that do not act as a coolant. When the relative pronoun “which” is substituted for “that,” the clause becomes nonrestrictive, and the implication is that ALL water vapor acts as a coolant.
18. “In addition” is a special type of introductory element, a transitional expression, which is always followed by a comma.
19. Homophones are words (often confused) that sound alike even if they differ in spelling, meaning, or origin, such as “you’re” and “your.” The correct choice in this case is “your.”
20. The phrase “to efficiently cool down” is a split infinitive, created when additional words (in this case, the adverb “efficiently”) are included between “to” and the infinitive verb “cool.” Some authorities consider this sentence structure acceptable; however, when the text is to be translated, the phrase should be rewritten to eliminate the split, e.g., “to cool down efficiently.”
21. Another area of potential confusion for a translator is the use of indefinite pronouns, especially at the beginning of sentences. The indefinite pronoun “Those” should be replaced with the specific noun “Deciduous trees.”
22. An adverb ending in “ly” (Properly) followed by a participle (located) or an adjective is always open, i.e., not hyphenated.
23. The word “either,” used as a pronoun or an adjective, should be used only to refer to one of two items; when more than two items are involved, use “any,” “any of,” a similar appropriate expression, or no expression if the meaning is clear. The word “either” has been deleted from this sentence.
24. This sentence begins with the phrase “Keep in mind,” an idiom that could easily cause confusion when being translated. Rewrite the sentence to begin with a word or phrase for which the meaning is clear, such as “Remember.”
25. Do not omit articles (a, an, the) in text intended for translation. People in the United States often omit them when speaking or writing, but they are a very necessary element of the English language when a translator is attempting to discern the correct meaning of a phrase or sentence. The correct phrase here is “a beautiful landscape.”
26. The word “over-all” should be spelled “overall.”
27. In text intended for translation, do not use personal pronouns other than “you.” Rewrite the example to replace “we recommend” with “our company recommends.”
28. Do not use the character “#” as a substitute for the word “number.” The only valid usage for “#” in a translated document is in a description of the keys on a telephone, in a country that speaks English as its primary language.