This practice book is intended for foreign engineers or
students of engineering who have already mastered the elements of English, and
who now want to use their knowledge of the language to read books on their own
subjects. Readers should understand, however, that the purpose of the book is to
teach language, not to teach engineering. The language in which
scientific and technical words facts are expressed is certainly not a different
language from that of daily life, but all the same it presents the foreign
student with a number of special problems. The most obvious and the most widely
recognized of these problems is the vocabulary. Much more difficult are the
semi-scientific or semi-technical words which have a whole range of meanings and
are frequently used idiomatically. One of the aims of this practice book is to
present as many of these words as possible, and as often as possible: words such
as work, paint, load, feed and force. Words like these may look harmless, but
they can cause a lot of trouble for the students. But more than anything else, I
have tried to describe the technical statement: that is, the completed sentence
rather than the individual word. Many of the structures illustrated in this book
are essential to the expression of technical facts and ideas-at least for the
present. This practice book is aimed at (46)
and primarily addressed to (47) and students
engaged in engineering. Semi-scientific or semi-technical words
are difficult to understand because they (48) .
The main characteristic of the book is that the book emphasizes on the
practice of (49) . Many structures
illustrated in the book are essential to the expression of technical
(50) .