Grammar may sound a little dry, but it makes a big difference to how clear and convincing a text becomes. Small choices – such as may or might, each or every, I or me – can quickly change both meaning and tone. Here you will find tips on some of the grammatical subtleties in Danish and English that even experienced writers occasionally stumble over.
Well, normally the rules are clear, but there are exceptions if the word is pronounced differently than it looks.
If a word begins with a consonant sound, you must use ’a’. If it begins with a vowel sound, use ’an’. In other words, using ’a’ and ’an’ does not depend on the spelling of the word it comes before; it depends on the pronunciation of the word. For example:
Danish abbreviations can be useful, but they are also frequently used incorrectly. Should it be fx, bl.a. or osv. – and where should the full stop go?
Here you will find a brief overview of some of the most common Danish abbreviations and their correct forms.
| Word/sentence | Abbreviation |
| blandt andet | bl.a. (remember both periods) |
| den (when indicating a date) | d. (remember the period) |
| for eksempel | f.eks. or fx |
| i forhold til | ift. (not ’ifht.’) |
| inklusiv | inkl. (not the English abbreviation 'incl.') |
| jævnfør | jf. |
| maksimum | maks. (not max.; only in English, but here it’s written without a full stop: ‘max’). |
| versus | vs. (remember the period) |
If you're unsure or curious about other Danish abbreviations, you can probably find them in this list: https://forkortelsen.dk/.
The choice of active or passive voice depends on what you want to emphasise as well as the tone and style you wish to convey in your text. Here is a short guide to when it is best to use the active voice, and when the passive voice may be the right choice.
Active voice is used when you want to focus on the subject (the doer of the action). This form makes a sentence more direct and vivid and is often used to emphasise who is performing the action or to create an engaging text.
In passive voice, the action (e.g. the process or results) is in focus. It is therefore not necessary or important to mention the actor (the doer of the action).
Passive voice is often used in academic texts, as the focus is typically on results, processes or data rather than the researcher as the actor.
However, active voice is becoming more widespread, particularly in introductions, conclusions and discussions, where it highlights the researcher’s role, contribution and arguments.
In the table below, you will find examples of the use of active and passive voice in different tenses with the verb ‘examine’.
| Tense | Active | Passive | Example, active | Example, passive |
| Present | examine | is/are examined | I examine the data every day. | The data is examined every day. |
| Past | examined | was/were examined | They examined the document carefully. | The document was examined carefully. |
| Present perfect | has/have examined | has/have been examined | She has examined all the reports. | All the reports have been examined. |
| Past perfect | had examined | had been examined | He had examined the samples before the meeting. | The samples had been examined before the meeting. |
| Future | will examine | will be examined | The researchers will examine the data. | The data will be examined. |
In short: Danish compound words are ALWAYS written without spaces.
Unfortunately, in Danish, there is a tendency to divide compound words, with the most common reason being the spell check on your computer or smartphone, which automatically divides the words or marks the word with a red, squiggly underline denoting misspelling.
Below, we have listed some advice and rules of thumb to help you understand how words are ’glued’ together in Danish.
Two or multiple words
In Danish, most compound words consist of two nouns. For example, the word ’ingeniøruddannelser’ consists of the words ’ingeniør’ and ’uddannelser’. Some compound words comprise multiple words, e.g. ’erhvervskandidatuddannelse’. In this example, jamming together is not enough; you have to add a ’link’ to somehow make a smooth transition when pronouncing the compound. The link in ’erhvervskandidatuddannelse’ is the ’s’ between ’erhverv’ and ’kandidat’.
Compound words with names
– are also written in one word, e.g. ’Herningborgmester’.
Aller, smadder, super, mega, herre, etc.
Compound words with stress on the first item are also written in one word, e.g. ’megagod’, ’superfint’ or ’kanonsød’.
Indenfor/inden for, overfor/over for
Some compounds may optionally be written in one or two words if used as a preposition, i.e. if followed by another word, e.g. “BTECH udbyder uddannelser inden for/indenfor ingeniørvidenskab og erhvervsøkonomi”. When the compound is not followed by another word, it must always be written without the space, e.g. “Det er varmt indenfor”.
Loan words in English
Newly added English loan words to the Danish language are written the same as in English, i.e. often in two or multiple words, e.g. ’open source’. If the word gradually becomes more used and known, and if pronounced with stress on the first item, it must be written according to the Danish rules, i.e. in one word, e.g. ’teambuildingkursus’ or ’computerprogram’.
Compound words in English
In English, compound words are often written in two or multiple words, e.g. ’business economics’ and ’engineering study programmes’.
In English, the Danish pronoun ‘hver’ can be translated with both ‘each’ and ‘every’. But when should you use one over the other?
In many cases, the difference is so slight that you can use both interchangeably:
However, there is a fundamental difference:
'Each' means 'each one'.
'Every' means 'every one' or 'all'.
More specifically, ‘each’ is used to highlight the individual people, things, etc. in a group, while ‘every’ is used to describe the group as a whole. ‘Each’ is used when there are two or more elements, while ‘every’ requires a minimum of three elements. Only ‘each’ can be used before 'of':
'Every' is often used with time expressions. Here ’each’ works in the same way, but is less common:
Hypercorrection or overcorrection occurs when we, in an honest effort to talk and write grammatically correct, actually wind up opting for the wrong solution. The use of ‘I’ vs. ‘’me’ is an example of such a pitfall.
The rule is pretty straightforward: Use ‘I’ when the pronoun is the subject of the sentence (the person performing the action), and use ‘me’ when it is the object of the sentence (the person at the receiving end of the action).
The reason behind the tendency to overcorrect is most likely that, growing up, we were repeatedly corrected when using ‘me’; for instance when asking: “Is it cool if me and Louise go to the mall?” (The proper way to ask is “is it cool if Louise and I go to the mall?”).
This has sparked a knee-jerk aversion to using ‘me’, although it is often called for, as in the following sentence:
✘ It would make Charlotte and I happy to be able to come back to campus.
✔ It would make Charlotte and me happy to be able to come back to campus.
✘ Please send the article to Lisa and I.
✔ Please send the article to Lisa and me.
However, as mentioned above, use ‘I’ when it is the subject of the sentence:
✘ Charlotte and me are looking forward to returning to da office.
✔ Charlotte and I are looking forward to returning to da office.
If in doubt, a simple trick is to remove other names and distracting words from the sentence, making it more clear whether to use ‘I’ or ‘me’:
✔ It would make me happy.
(And not: “It would make I happy”).
✔ I am looking forward to returning.
(And not: “Me am looking forward to returning”).
In English, -ing forms are used in so many different ways, and since they are particularly challenging for non-native speakers of English, we have listed the most common -ing forms and their typical pitfalls below.
1. Present continuous (together with the auxiliary verb ’to be’)
The present continuous is used to talk about an activity at the moment of speaking, e.g.:
If, on the other hand, you want to describe an unchanged, repeated or reoccurring activity or a fact, the present tense should be used, e.g.:
2. After prepositions
If a verb is followed by a preposition, it must always be in -ing form, e.g.:
Many non-native speakers of English mistakenly write “I look forward to meet you”; however, since ’to’ in this context is a preposition, the verb must be followed by ’-ing’.
3. After certain verbs
Some verbs are always followed by the -ing form. These are: admit, appreciate, avoid, begin, consider, contemplate, deny, detest, dislike, enjoy, escape, fancy, finish, hate, imagine, keep, like, love, mind, miss, postpone, practise, remember, resent, risk, cannot help, cannot stand, start, stop and suggest. E.g.:
4. In reduced relative clauses
Sometimes it makes good sense to omit the relative pronoun (who/whom) and change the verb to an -ing form, e.g.:
The Danish words ‘nogen’ or ‘nogle’ are often pronounced in the same way; you simply cannot hear the difference. So when to use ‘nogen’ and when to use ‘nogle’?
’Nogen’ means any or anyone at all:
’Nogle’ means a few or some.
‘Nogen’ is often equivalent to ’any’; ’nogle’ is often equivalent to ’some’. If in doubt, try translating the sentence into English to see what sounds right.
In some cases, you can use both ’nogen’ and 'nogle', but their meanings are quite different.
In the first sentence, they couldn’t answer any questions at all (not even one). In the second sentence, they could answer a few or some of the questions. Which of the two words you use therefore depends on the context.
Forming possessives of nouns and pronouns (i.e. marking that one thing belongs to something/someone) is very different in Danish and English.
In Danish, there are three types of possessive endings:
| Ending | Example |
| -s (without an apostrophe) | Mikkels computer er gået i stykker. |
| -’ (after names, nouns, pronouns and abbreviations ending on -s or -z) | Anders’ eksamen gik godt. |
| -’s (after abbreviations) | BTECH’s personalefester er sjove. |
In English, you must always add an apostrophe when forming possessives, e.g.:
If the noun is plural or singular and ends in -s, you form the possessive simply by adding the apostrophe, e.g.:
Many confuse possessive forms and contractions, where two words (a noun or pronoun and a verb) are written in one word. Therefore, please pay attention to the following: Its and it's, you're and your, who's and whose, and they're, their and there. E.g.:
In another language tip, we have dealt with how to form possessives of nouns and pronouns (i.e. marking that one thing belongs to something/someone). In this tip, we’ll zoom in on how to, for the lack of a better word, make abbreviations possessive.
The rule of thumb is that we form the possessive of abbreviations by adding an apostrophe and an –s:
The same goes for abbreviations ending with an –s or an –s sound:
However, please note that if an abbreviation is put in the plural by adding an -s, only an apostrophe is required:
When it comes to abbreviations ending with a period, we’ll use the above rule of thumb: Add an apostrophe and an –s:
In English, the subject and verb must agree in number. This sounds simple, but there are several situations where choosing the correct form can be difficult. In this language tip, we look at some of the most common subject-verb agreement pitfalls.
In particular, ‘of’ phrases give rise to confusion. Here, one must recognise that the subject of the sentence is the noun preceding ‘of’ and thus the sentence element that the verb must agree with:
Two singular nouns connected by ‘and’ take the plural form:
However, if two nouns are connected by ‘along with’ or ‘as well as’, the following noun or nouns are not part of the subject. Therefore, the verb should only agree with the noun preceding ‘along with’ or ‘as well as’:
In cases where two nouns are connected by ‘or’, ‘either/or’ or ‘neither/nor’, the verb must agree with the noun closest to it:
With words that indicate an amount or a portion – ‘a lot’, ‘a majority’, ‘a number of’, ‘some’ – the rule is that the verb is either singular or plural depending on the number of the noun following ‘of’:
When the present participle form of a verb is the subject of a sentence, the verb must take the singular:
With some nouns (collective nouns), it is up to the writer’s own discretion to decide whether the noun acts as a unity or as a collection of individuals:
Finally, there are the uncountable nouns, including ‘furniture’, ‘news’, ‘information’. These always require the verb to take the singular form:
These were examples of the pitfalls of subject-verb agreement in English. If you feel like testing your new-found skills, you can take a quiz here.
The subjunctive may be rare in modern English, but it still exists – especially in formal or hypothetical sentences. It is a special verb form used to express wishes, demands or something hypothetical/uncertain.
There are two main forms of the subjunctive:
Present (or mandative) subjunctive
This form is used in sentences expressing demands, suggestions or necessity. Here, the basic form of the verb is used – i.e. without ‘to’ and without ‘-s’ in the third person singular.
| Correct | Common mistake* |
| It’s essential that I be on time. | It’s essential that I am on time. |
| They suggest that she study more. | They suggest that she studies more. |
| (*Mistake: Using the standard present tense instead of the subjunctive.) | |
Hypothetical subjunctive
This form is used when something is described as unreal, unlikely or hypothetical. In such cases, ‘were’ is used instead of ‘was’ – even in the first and third person singular.
| Correct | Common mistake* |
| If I were you, I’d say no. | If I was you, I’d say no. |
| She acts as if she were the boss. | She acts as if she was the boss. |
| (*Mistake: Using the simple past tense instead of the subjunctive.) | |
There are two options: -t or -ede:
Which is correct? Well, you’ll need to figure out whether you’re dealing with an action or a state. An action takes the -t form, while a state requires the -ede form.
There are two easy rules of thumb if you find it difficult to distinguish between them:
In some cases, when it proves difficult to decide whether it’s an action or a state, you may use both forms; the -t form, however, is often preferred in such cases.
Relative pronouns refer to people, animals, objects and concepts mentioned in the preceding main clause. Danish relative pronouns, e.g. ‘der’, ‘som’, ‘hvis’, can be used regardless of the gender, religious belief and ‘aliveness’ of the term referred to.
In English, however, it is important to distinguish between when to use ‘who’ and ‘that’/’which’ as a relative pronoun.
‘Who’ is used to refer to people, whereas ‘that’/’which’ are used when the term in question is an animal, object or group/organisation.
In short: People → ‘who’. Things, animals and organisations → ‘that’ or ‘which’.
Need a brush-up on when to use 'which' and 'that' and the punctuation that goes with them? Then have a look at our very informative language tip on the subject here.
Numbers and dates follow clear conventions in both Danish and English. Here you will find guidance on how to present years and time spans, when to use numerals or words, and how to format dates consistently and correctly.
In Danish, month names are ALWAYS written with an initial lower case letter:
In English, we recommend the simple form in both British and American English:
Note that in English, capital letters are ALWAYS used at the beginning of month names. In addition, there is NO full stop after the date number in English.
This also applies when you use prepositions of time, e.g.:
There are no official rules for writing numbers, but a general rule of thumb, however, is to spell out small numbers ranging from one to ten and use numerals for larger numbers (i.e. above ten). But there are a few exceptions:
Consistency
When mixing small and large numbers, you should use numerals.
The company has 29 employees, of which14 are production workers, 10 are vendors and 5 are administrative staff.
Two numbers next to each other
When writing a sentence that has two numbers side by side, it is best to write one number as a word and the other as a numeral.
He was to translate two 8-page documents by the end of the week.
Numbers starting a sentence
You should never begin a sentence with a numeral. Spell out the number or try to reword the sentence.
Many numbers
When using numbers frequently in a document, it is appropriate that you write all numbers as numerals.
In short, Danish and English are each other’s opposites when it comes to separating thousands and decimals.
In Danish:
Commas are used to separate decimals:
| In English:
Dots are used to separate decimals:
|
And now that we are at it: Note that in Danish you have a space between the per cent sign and the number. In English, there is no spacing:
When referring to decades, don’t use an apostrophe before the final s.
Incorrect:
Correct:
In academic and formal writing, centuries should be written out in words, especially in running text. Numerical forms may be used in tables, summaries or highly technical documents.
Incorrect:
Correct:
Generally avoid beginning a sentence with a numeral. Instead, spell out the number or rephrase the sentence (see also our language tip on numbers).
Incorrect:
Correct:
When indicating time spans in English, use an en dash (–), not a hyphen (-), with no spaces around it. In running text, it is generally best to write out the full years and avoid abbreviations.
Incorrect:
Correct:
Note: In Danish, a hyphen is used with no spaces between years: 2001-2009.
Punctuation may seem like a small thing, but these small marks make a big difference. A comma can change the meaning of a sentence, and a misplaced apostrophe can make even the best text falter. Here you will find tips on the correct use of commas, colons and semicolons, as well as apostrophes, hyphens and quotation marks – also when web addresses and hyperlinks find their way into your text.
They certainly look alike, but they each have their own key on your keyboard and – above all – they are used in very different ways. However, because they are so visually similar, we often see that the accent is used when, in fact, an apostrophe was actually called for.
In Danish, the apostrophe (‘) is used, among other things, to form the possessive of words ending in s, z or x (Anders’), in connection with abbreviations without a full stop (pc’en) and numbers (1960’erne). The accent (´) is used to accent a syllable (én, odyssé, analysér). The accent is always optional in Danish and is used when it aids the reader.
In English, the apostrophe comes to play when forming the possessive (the car’s engine; check out a previous language tip here). It is also used when omitting one or more letters (don’t) or as quotation marks according to the British English standard (‘No Future’ was the anthem of punk). The accent is rarely used in English, but can be found in some loan words (fiancé).
Below, please find overview of the most common apostrophe/accent pitfalls:
| Correct | Incorrect | |
| The possessive | A dog’s purpose | A dog´s purpose |
| Omitting one or more letters | He would’ve come if he knew | He would´ve come if he knew |
| Quotation marks | ‘It is well’, he said | ´It is well´, he said |
Below you'll find a list of the six most important rules for bullet points.
| Rule | Example | |
| #1 | Start each bullet with a lowercase letter when the bullet completes the introductory stem. | When making bullet lists, you should:
|
| #2 | Start each bullet with an uppercase letter when the bullet character is a letter or number. | When writing a research paper, always remember: 1. Coffee |
| #3 | Use a period (or other full stop) after every bullet that is a sentence. | When making a bullet list, you should check the following:
|
| #4 | Always (as a general rule) use a period after the final bullet point (when the sentences in the bullet list are not full sentences). | When making a bullet list, you should not:
|
| #5 | Don’t use commas between the bullets/don’t write ’and’ or ’or’ between the two final bullets in the list. | A bullet list
|
| #6 | The sentences should be in parallel structures to ensure linguistic uniformity and consistency across the text. | Read our language tip on parallelism. |
A colon often precedes an example, an explanation, a list or a quotation.
In Danish usage, a colon is only followed by a capital letter, if you have a full sentence, whereas in English, a colon is normally followed by a lowercase letter. This, however, depends on the style guide you’re using.
| DK | Sprogservice tilbyder: sproglig revision, oversættelse og sproglig sparring. |
| UK | Language Services offers: language revision, translation and linguistic feedback. |
| DK | Inden kildeteksten indleveres til Sprogservice, skal du kontrollere følgende: Om teksten er færdig og om den fungerer i forhold til målgruppen? |
| UK | Before submitting your source text to Language Services, you must check the following: is the text final and have you adjusted the text to the target audience? |
Semicolons are not used that often, but we at Language Services are huge fans of the punctuation mark. A semicolon is a pause double that of the comma but not as final as the full stop. You can use it to link two independent clauses that are closely related in thought.
A semicolon is followed by a lowercase letter.
You can also use a semicolon between items in a list or series if the sentences are long and contain commas.
In Danish, you often put a comma before ‘at’ (subordinate conjunction) and ‘som/der’ (relative pronoun):
This is not the case in English.
In English, we do not place a comma before ‘that’ when it is used as a subordinate conjunction (words that connect a main clause with a subordinate clause) as in the first example above.
In other words, in English, you avoid separating the main clause and the subordinate clause.
It becomes somewhat more complicated and less straightforward when turning to the question of whether one should put a comma before ‘that’ when ‘that’ functions as a relative pronoun.
In short, you do not put a comma before ‘that’ in English, since ‘that’ introduces a restrictive relative clause, which never requires a comma. A restrictive relative clause provides vital information about the word that ‘that’ refers back to; if removed, the sentence is incomplete:
If a relative clause is parenthetical, i.e. merely offers additional information about the word it modifies instead of defining/identifying it, a comma is required before the relative pronoun. A useful rule of thumb is to remove the relative clause; if the sentence still makes sense, one should place a comma. If the relative clause is parenthetical, ‘which’ must be used as the relative pronoun instead of ‘that’:
An appositive is a noun or noun phrase that elaborates or describes the noun to which it is next.
Often, an appositive is parenthetical, i.e. it could be omitted without changing the basic meaning of the sentence. Here, we put commas around the appositive:
However, an appositive can also be identifying, i.e. non-parenthetical, in which case no commas should be placed around the addition:
In the above example, no commas are put around ‘Manufactory’, because the name is essential for conveying the meaning of the sentence. Essential in the sense that it is important to know which centre at AU in Herning we are referring to.
Consider the following sentences:
In the first sentence (without commas), Michael is one of several brothers, while in the second sentence (with commas), Michael is the only brother.
The presence or absence of commas with appositives can therefore lead to a difference in meaning. In other words, you need to have the relevant background knowledge to be able to place commas correctly.
They might all look like lines on a page, but hyphens and dashes have very different purposes. Visually, hyphens are shorter (-) than dashes (–). In American English, you will also find an extra large dash (—).
While hyphens are used to join words together, dashes can used to add parenthetical statements or comments in much the same way as you would use brackets. Dashes can – in other words – be used to indicate an interruption.
| Danish term | English term | Character | Example |
| Bindestreg | Hyphen | - | T-shirt |
| Tankestreg (kort) | En dash | – | En tankestreg er – i modsætning til en bindestreg – længere og skrives med luft før og efter. |
| Tankestreg (lang) | Em dash | — | Den lange tankestreg bruges stort set på samme måde som den korte — men den ses primært i amerikansk engelsk. |
Note: In Danish, we use a hyphen between words or numbers meaning ’from-to’:
In English, we use the ’en dash’ instead:
Adjectives are words that describe nouns, e.g. people or things. When an adjective comes before the noun it describes, we call it an attributive adjective. An attributive adjective often consists of two or more words, which we refer to as compound adjectives. In Danish, we usually write compounds in one word, while in English, we put a hyphen between two or more words when we want them to act as a single idea (one adjective) that describes the noun.
Below is a list of the different types of compound adjectives used in English grammar.
| Type | Example |
| Number + noun | A two-year Master’s degree programme. |
| Adjective + noun | At BTECH, we conduct high-quality research. |
| Noun + adjective | He is a world-famous researcher. |
| Adjective + -ing-form | She is a hard-working woman. |
| Adverb + -ing-form | Learning is a never-ending task. |
| Noun + -ing-form | It is a time-saving method. |
| Noun + past participle | We solve problems relevant to technology-based business development. |
| Adverb + past participle | It is a well-known fact that COVID-19 is spread primarily through droplet transmission. |
| Adjective + past participle | IoT is a new-fashioned technology. |
| Noun + noun | She has a part-time job. |
| Adjective + adjective | I don’t like fat-free cakes. |
Hyphens are used to ‘glue’ words together to avoid confusion or ambiguity. However, in Danish and English, hyphens are used in different ways. Below, we have provided examples of when to use (and when not to use) hyphens in Danish and English.
Abbreviations
DK: CO2-udledning
UK: CO2 emission
DK: ph.d.-studerende
UK: PhD student
Prefixes
A prefix is a letter or set of letters placed before the stem word to form a different word. In English, the following prefixes are always hyphenated: ‘all-’, ‘cross-’, ‘ex-’ og ‘self-’.
DK: ekskone
UK: ex-wife
DK: selvbetjening
UK: self-service
If a prefix ends in the same vowel that the stem word starts with, you separate them with a hyphen, e.g. ‘re-election’.
Suffixes
A suffix is a letter or set of letters added at the end of a stem word to form a different word. In Danish, hyphenated suffixes are mostly used in connection with abbreviations, whereas they are more commonly used with hyphens in English – and always after the following suffixes: ‘-type’, ‘-elect’ og ‘-designate’.
DK: en IT-agtig person
UK: an IT-like person
UK: Please use 12-point bold-type font
Omitted words
DK: Erhvervs- og samfundsvidenskabelige discipliner
UK: Business and social science disciplines
Note! Always include a hyphen in compound adjectives if you omit a word. For example, ‘on-campus and off-campus teaching’ must be written ‘on- and off-campus teaching’ if you leave out the first ‘campus’.
Hello, goodbye!
We write, send and receive emails practically all round the clock, and consequently, electronic mail is an integral and inevitable part of our everyday lives. Therefore, we thought we'd provide you with a few quick-and-dirty tips on how to open and close your emails in a grammatically correct fashion.
In Danish, the opening and closing greetings are comma-free zones. Accordingly, you should not insert a comma - or a full stop, for that matter - after the opening greeting, regardless of whether you use 'hej', 'kære' or ''allo 'allo'. The line spacing after the opening greeting serves as a sign. Therefore, you should also set off the following paragraph with an initial capital.
✘ Hej John,
✘ Hej John.
✔ Hej John
You should not insert a comma between the greeting and the name either.
✘ Hej, Paul
✔ Hej Paul
Finally, don't insert a comma after the closing greeting.
✘ Hilsen,
George
✔ Hilsen
George
In English, the above-mentioned rules are the opposite in the sense that the use of commas is far more generous.
If you use 'hi' or 'hello' to start off your email, you must insert a comma between the greeting and the name. This, however (and somewhat contrary to logic), is not the case if you use 'dear'.
✔ Hi, Ringo,
✔ Dear Ringo,
The closing greeting requires a comma, too.
✔ Best regards,
The Fab Four
If you refer to a web address (a URL) or insert a hyperlink at the end of a sentence in a text, use punctuation like you normally would. In other words, include a period, question mark or exclamation mark as you would, if the sentence ended with a word or a number. The punctuation should therefore not be included as part of the URL/hyperlink.
✘ You can read more at www.btech.au.dk/en.
✘ You can read more at www.btech.au.dk/en
✔ You can read more at www.btech.au.dk/en.
✔ What do you think about this website?
In fact, quotation marks, inverted commas and the so-called ’66 and 99’ are the same, but they come in two typologies: double (“...”) and single (‘...’). Either is acceptable, but you must be consistent with your use of them in a piece of writing. In AU texts, however, the following is recommended.
Double quotation marks are used to mark the beginning and end of a quote or direct speech. Remember to place commas and full stops inside the quotes, if you are quoting a full sentence:
✔ “I look forward to having physical lectures at the university again,” the professor said.
If you are quoting a fragment of a sentence, place commas and full stops outside the quotes:
✔ The professor was looking forward to “having physical lectures at the university again”.
We do not recommend that you both italicise and use quotation marks in a quote/direct speech at the same time:
✘ “I look forward to having physical lectures at the university again,” the professor said.
Single quotation marks are used to indicate idiomatic/unknown terms or concepts as well as quoted words or sentences within the main quotation:
✔ He went to the university in ‘the swinging sixties’.
✔ “Let’s explore the meaning of the quote ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times’,” the lecturer said.
Some language rules are not about meaning, but about how words appear on the page. Here you will find tips on hyphenation, capitalisation and other writing conventions in Danish and English – in short, the details that help your text look polished on the page.
According to the language policy of Aarhus BSS, the school uses British English as standard in official letters, brochures, web texts, etc. Research publications and other knowledge sharing must comply with the formal requirements (including choice of British or American English standard) made by the publishers/contracting authority.
There are many differences between British and American English, among those are differences in the terminology of the two standards (e.g., lift (UK)/elevator (US)). However, in this context, we have chosen to highlight some typical differences in spelling and use of commas.
| -ise vs -ize | -isation vs -ization | -our vs -or | -re vs -er | ||||
| UK | US | UK | US | UK | US | UK | US |
| Analyse | Analyze | Organisation | Organization | Behaviour | Behavior | Centre | Center |
In American English, a comma is inserted before the last conjunction (and/or) in a series of three or more items. This is called ‘the serial comma’ or ‘the Oxford comma’:
As a main rule, the last comma is omitted in British English:
Contrary to British English, a comma is also inserted after ‘e.g.’ and ‘i.e.’ in American English.
Here you will find the key rules for the use of lower- and uppercase in Danish and English, including subject areas, degrees, titles and course names.
1. Subject and research areas
Subject and research areas such as ’strategic management’, ’big data’ and ’business analytics’ are common nouns and do not usually take a capital letter:
Note: In English, there are two ways of using uppercase letters in titles and headings: 1) Capitalise the first letters of nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and subordinating conjunctions, or 2) treat the heading as you would treat a sentence; you capitalise the first letter:
2. Degrees, programmes and courses
When referring to degrees and study programmes in general, lowercase letters are used:
Course names are usually written with lowercase letters in Danish, whereas in English, the first letters of nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs and subordinating conjunctions are capitalised:
3. Job titles and academic degrees
In Danish, most job titles are written with a lowercase initial letter:
In English, it is a little different. Here, titles are written with capital initial letters if the title is preceded by a name and with a lowercase initial letter if it follows the person’s name:
Correct word division improves readability and helps ensure that the text flows naturally. In this month's language tip, you'll learn how to divide words correctly and avoid misunderstandings.
In Danish, words are typically divided after morphemes, i.e. meaning-bearing units. In other words, you should be careful not to divide words in a way that changes their meaning. For example, pastaske should not be split as pas-taske and mandater should not be split as mand-ater. Hyphenation often occurs with compound words, e.g. arbejds-glæde.
In English, words are divided after syllables and, where possible, between consonants, e.g. bet-ter and hap-py. Emphasis is also placed on ensuring that divided words remain easy to decode (recognisable) while preserving their meaning.
For both Danish and English, you should avoid leaving a single letter on its own. For example, orange should be split as oran-ge and not o-range.
| Examples of correct hyphenation | |
| Danish | English |
| Sol-skin | Run-ning |
| Bil-dør | Driv-ing |
| Hus-ejer | Ex-am-ple |
| Op-læring | In-form |
| Sprog-tip | Lan-guage |
💡 Tip: Use word divisions sparingly – too many divisions can reduce readability, especially in narrow columns or on screens.
Most people have a fairly good grip on the fact that the Danish pronoun ‘I’ (you) must be capitalised, whereas the identical-sounding preposition ‘i’ must be lowercased.
However, now and again, we see that the two pronouns related to ’I’, namely ‘jer’ (you) and ‘jeres’ (your/yours), are placed in the – in some people’s opinion – prominent category of initial letter capitalising. In some instances, it may be in an attempt to crank op the politeness level. Whatever the reason – don’t do it.
The Danish pronoun ‘I’ is capitalised to distinguish it from the preposition ‘i’. This is not necessary with ‘jer’ and ‘jeres’, as they cannot be confused with other words. Therefore:
In English, it is as straightforward as can be: You, your and yours are never capitalised (unless they follow a full stop, of course).
Small linguistic choices can make a big difference to precision, style and tone. Here you will find guidance on the correct and nuanced use of words, expressions and formulations in both Danish and English.
The ampersand (&), also known as the ‘and sign’, represents the conjunction ’and’. The sign indicates a closer connection than ’and’ and is used to join one or more parts into one. Thus, in most cases, it cannot directly replace the use of ’and’.
The ampersand can be used in:
☝️ We recommend that you don’t make use of the ampersand in course titles and headlines in articles.
Even when your spellchecker doesn’t sound the alarm and redline your document, you can’t know for sure that you haven’t misspelled a word.
Many English words look or sound very similar but have different meanings – and your spellchecker does not always catch the difference.
Therefore, always keep a weather eye open and check if what you’re writing is, in fact, what you mean – and don’t rely on the spellchecker to tell you when things are amiss.
Here are some of the most common pitfalls.
| Loose | Lose |
| Adjective. Not fitting tightly or closely: The pants were loose and comfy to wear. | Verb. To no longer have something or to be defeated: The Beatles’ ‘You’re Going To Lose That Girl’ came out in 1965. |
| Looser | Loser |
| Adjective. Comparative form of ‘loose’: As the pounds came off, the clothes became looser. | Noun. Someone who loses, has lost something or is disadvantaged: He felt like a loser throughout his high school years. |
| Choose | Chose |
| Verb. Infinitive: She didn’t know how to choose between the two alternatives. | Verbum. Past tense: He chose to live life by his own rules. |
| Too | To |
| Adverb. In addition, also: All her friends went to the beach, so she decided to go too. | Preposition. Indicates movement toward a place, thing or person: She went to the doctor’s and found out she was 2 months pregnant. |
| Off | Of |
| Adverb. Away from something/someone/ somewhere, removed, not in operation: She rode off into the sunset. He took his socks off. The TV was turned off. | Preposition. Expresses possession: She quickly drank a glass of wine. |
| Cancelled | Canceled |
| Verb. The double-letter spelling is primarily used in British English. The same applies to modelled, travelled, fuelled, among others. | Verb. The single-letter spelling is primarily used in American English. The same applies to modeled, traveled, fueled, among others. |
| Extent | Extend |
| Noun. The scope or degree of something: We didn’t realise the extent of the damage. | Verb. To lengthen, enlarge or offer something: The company decided to extend the deadline by two weeks. |
| Border | Boarder |
| Noun/verb. A boundary or edge; also to be adjacent to something: The river forms the border between the two countries. | Noun. A person who rents a room, often with meals included (e.g. in a boarding house): They rented a room to a boarder to earn extra money. |
| Their | They're |
| Possessive pronoun. Indicates possession: Their office is located in London. | Constraction of they are: They’re planning to publish the results next month. |
💡Curious to learn more? 🔍 Find a top 30 of commonly confused words in English here.
In emails, emojis work best as small tone enhancers. A neutral emoji like 🙂 can be used to signal positivity – even when you don’t know the recipient. More expressive emojis (e.g. 🤩, 😜 or 😂) should be reserved for informal emails where the tone is relaxed. In formal contexts, emojis should generally be avoided.
On social media platforms like LinkedIn, emojis can make posts more engaging and easier to skim. Use them to highlight key points or create bullet lists (e.g. 👉, ⭐ or 📈), but in moderation so they support your message without stealing the spotlight.
There are no strict rules for using emojis as punctuation, but in informal writing they are often used instead of a full stop. If a new sentence follows an emoji, usage varies: some start with a capital letter, others with lowercase or even a line break. Typically, a space is placed before the emoji:
If you use emojis frequently, these shortcuts make it quick and easy to insert them:
There are no official rules on the use of ‘its’ or 'their' when referring to companies or organisations. The choice often comes down to personal preference and style. That said, there are some guidelines you can follow.
When referring to companies as a single entity, it’s appropriate to use ‘its’. For example:
‘Their’ is used to signal a more collective approach that includes the individuals within the company. This usage can be more informal and is seen in contexts where the focus is on the collective actions of the people in the organisation. For example:
In practice, both forms are common and accepted, but it’s important that you are consistent in their use. Always consider the context and tone of the communication when deciding which pronouns to use. If you’re writing formally, ‘its’ is most appropriate, while ‘their’ may be a better choice in more informal contexts.
In the terminology list below, you can find English translations of the most commonly used job titles at BTECH. In addition, you can read more about the job structure for academic staff here. You can also make use of the AU Dictionary, which contains AU-specific terminology and concepts in Danish and English.
In case you do not remember when to use lower- or uppercase letters in job titles, you can learn more here.
| Danish | English |
| adjunkt (uden forskningsforpligtelser) | teaching assistant professor |
| adjunkt (med forskningsforpligtelser) | assistant professor |
| akademisk medarbejder | academic employee |
| centerleder | centre director |
| ekstern lektor | part-time lecturer |
| forsker | researcher |
| forskningsleder | research director |
| ingeniørdocent | senior professor of engineering |
| institutleder | head of department |
| kontorfuldmægtig/kontorfunktionær | administrator |
| lektor (uden forskningsforpligtelser) | teaching associate professor |
| lektor (med forskningsforpligtelser) | associate professor |
| lektor(ing) | teaching associate professor |
| ph.d.-stipendiat | PhD fellow |
| ph.d.-studerende | PhD student |
| professor | professor |
| postdoc | postdoc |
| sekretariatsleder | head of secretariat |
| studieadministrator | studies administrator |
| studieleder | director of studies |
| uddannelseskoordinator | programme coordinator |
| undervisningsassistent | assistant lecturer |
| videnskabelig assistent | research assistant |
At times, it can be difficult to choose between the modal verbs 'may' and ‘might’, as they are very similar in meaning.
When faced with the choice, you should primarily consider the degree of probability you wish to express.
'May' is used to express a very high degree of probability (bordering on certainty) that something will happen:
Furthermore, 'may' is also used to request or grant permission:
'Might' is typically not used in the context of permission. Instead, 'might' is used when you want to express a weaker degree of probability or a more uncertain outcome:
'Might' is also used to describe hypothetical situations:
In short, parallelism in writing ensures uniformity and consistency across a text. Thus, writing parallel bullet lists simply means that each item in the list has the same structure, making the text flow better and enabling the reader to obtain an overview of the message content.
To be parallel, each item in the list might start with a verb, use the same verb tense and use the same sentence type (e.g. in the form of questions).
❌ Incorrect example:
We use bullet lists:
✔️ Correct example:
We use bullet lists:
✔️ Correct example:
When writing a correct and clear bullet list, you are not to:
If you have a minute to spare, make sure to read the language tip on bullet points here.
Demonstrative pronouns are used to point to people, places or things in a sentence. More specifically, they are used to indicate proximity or distance – in time or space – between the speaker and the person, place or thing being referred to. This type of pronouns can therefore help make your communication more precise and effective.
The four most common demonstrative pronouns in English are ‘this’, ‘that’, ‘these’ and ‘those’. In Danish, they are roughly equivalent to 'den her', 'den der', 'de her' and 'de der'.
While ‘this’ is used to refer to something nearby or close, ‘that’ is used to indicate that something is far or further away. 'These' and 'those' are used (like ‘this’ and ‘that’) to refer to something, but in the plural form.
| Near | Far | |
| Singular | this
| that
|
| Plural | these
| those
|
Varying your language makes your written work more interesting and keeps the reader engaged. Below are listed three ways to add variety to your writing.
1. Sentence structure
A good place to start is to look at how you structure your sentences. For example, you can change the word order or ’play’ with the words so that the reader doesn’t read the same construction over and over again:
2. Synonyms
Another way is to make use of synonyms to avoid repeating words and make your text more interesting to read. However, be careful not to use strange foreign words that overcomplicate your text.
In addition, try not to use the same root of a word within a sentence – even if the words don’t have the same meaning.
✘ It’s an organisation that regularly organises international conferences.
✔ It’s an organisation that regularly hosts international conferences.
3. Connecting words
To create linguistic coherence in your text, you can also make use of connecting words, which can help you to argue, elaborate, exemplify, conclude, etc. You can find inspiration in the list below which provides examples of different connecting words grouped into categories, according to the context in which they are used.
| Category | Danish examples | English examples |
| To add/ elaborate | og, desuden, derudover, efterfølgende, endelig, for det første (andet osv.), herefter, igen, også, yderligere, slutteligt, til sidst | again, and, besides, finally, first (second, etc.), further, furthermore, in addition, lastly, moreover, next, subsequently, too |
| To compare/ prove | alligevel, derimod, dog, hvor, hvorimod, i mellemtiden, i modsætning til, ikke desto mindre, men, mens, omvendt, sammenlignet med, selv om, tværtimod | although, but, by comparison, compared to, conversely, however, in contrast (to), meanwhile, nevertheless, on the contrary, on the other hand, where, whereas, yet |
| To show a consequence | af samme grund, eftersom, fordi, naturligvis, netop, tydeligvis, under alle omstændigheder | accordingly, because, evidently, for the same reason, indeed, in any case, in fact, obviously, since |
| To repeat | kort sagt, med andre ord, som nævnt, som beskrevet | as described/ mentioned/noted/stated, in brief, in other words |
| To exemplify | for eksempel, for at demonstrere/illustrere, i dette tilfælde, i et andet tilfælde, her, som et eksempel | for example, for instance, here, in this case, in another case, in this situation, take the case of, to demonstrate/illustrate, as an example |
| To show a sequence | bagefter, derefter, efter, efter dette, efterfølgende, endelig, for det første (andet osv.), følgelig, herefter, inden, tidligere, til at begynde med, samtidig | at this time, first (second etc.), next, then, following this, now, at this point, after, afterward, subsequently, finally, consequently, previously, before this, simultaneously, concurrently, thus, therefore, hence, next, and then, soon |
| To conclude/ summarise | afslutningsvis, derfor, dermed, følgelig, i overensstemmelse hermed, kort sagt, med andre ord, sammenfattende, som nævnt/vist, som følge heraf, således | accordingly, as a result, as shown/stated, consequently, hence, in brief, in conclusion, in other words, in short, on the whole, summing up, therefore, thus, to conclude |
In academic writing, nailing the right verb tense is important. Although it may sound a bit dry and boring, it helps ensure that your research results are communicated clearly and effectively.
Check out the table below for a quick and handy overview of the verb tenses used in different sections of a research paper. Each section generally uses a primary tense, but variations in tenses may occur to more precisely reflect different aspects of the research.
| Section | Tense | Explanation | Example |
| Abstract | Past tense | Summarises the research project and its results. | The study was conducted in collaboration with local companies. |
| Introduction | Present tense | Presents current facts and background information. | Collaboration between universities and companies is crucial. |
| Method | Past tense | Explains procedures and methods used. | Data was collected from case companies over a six-month period. |
| Results | Past tense | Describes the results obtained, but without interpretation. | The results showed an increase in productivity. |
| Discussion | Present and past tense | Analyses the results and their significance. Present tense is used to discuss the meaning of the results and past tense is used to summarise them. | Collaboration between companies will remain central to growth. (Present tense) The study clearly showed a positive effect of the collaboration. (Past tense) |
| Conclusion | Present tense (sometimes future tense) | Summarises the key findings and their implications or suggests further research. Present tense is used to emphasise relevance, while future tense is used for discussing future research. | The findings indicate that their collaboration continues to drive innovation. (Present tense) Future studies will need to explore long-term impacts of these collaborations. (Future tense) |