Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[Joseph@Shiga]

Hi native teachers,

Sorry to ask you so many questions.

Can we write in the following way?
1. Short-circuit the conductive strip A and the conductive strip B

Should we write in the following way?
2. Create a short-circuit beween the conductive strip A and the conductive strip B

In my understanding, the verb "short-circuit" means "bypass"; therefore,
No. 1 above is not correct.

Thanks a lot in advance

Joseph@Shiga

[ESL-ish]

Yes, I think you are right. In my humble opinion, the first is not the best choice of wording.

On the other hand, I can imagine it being used by a native speaker in a physicis lab exercise book because the writer was trying to be very concise and the context was very informal.

However, if you are doing the writing definitly choose the second sentence. The first from a native speaker is just sloppy, from a non-native speaker it will be seen as a big, fat language error.
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[Joseph@Shiga]

ESL-ish-san

Thanks a million for your replay.

Joseph@Shiga