Your list
Read out your will / should / may findings. For each, say only: “intended” or “not intended.” No fixing yet.
One sentence in your own approved set
This is not a made-up example. It is on a drawing that was stamped and built.
The outlier
Every specification sentence across your electrical notes uses the same modal:
Electrical power shall be supplied… All work shall comply with… Conductors shall be sized… The subpanel shall be installed… All equipment shall be listed and labeled… Contractor shall verify…
And then, on the retaining-wall detail:
Geosynthetic reinforcement grid will be installed according to the manufacturer instructions.
Two deviations in one sentence, and both are the exact Portuguese-transfer patterns this unit is about:
- will be installed — a prediction where every neighbouring note has an obligation. Deverá ser instalado covers both, so nothing felt wrong when it was written.
- according to the manufacturer instructions — where your own electrical notes say in accordance with the manufacturer’s instructions. Both the phrase and the possessive have drifted.
Nothing bad happened. The wall got built. But if the grid had been installed wrongly and the wall had moved, that sentence is the one that would have been read very closely indeed — and it does not require anything.
The five patterns
Collected across Lessons 1–5
| Pattern | What appears | What it should be | Why |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prediction for obligation | will be installed | shall be installed | deverá covers both |
| Recommendation for obligation | should be verified | shall be verified | deveria / deverá are one letter apart |
| Loose citation phrase | according to | in accordance with | The set’s own house phrase |
| Dropped possessive | the manufacturer instructions | the manufacturer’s instructions | Portuguese uses do fabricante, no ’s |
| Over-applied passive | shall be complied with | shall comply with | comply is intransitive |
The consistency point. Any single one of these, on its own, a reader forgives. What they do together is make the document look like it was assembled rather than written — and that invites closer reading of everything else in it.
Fix them
Every sentence below is a real pattern from this unit — the first is verbatim from your own drawings. Rewrite each correctly.
1. Geosynthetic reinforcement grid will be installed according to the manufacturer instructions.
2. Lot dimensions should be verified by the contractor before construction.
3. Conduit installation shall be complied with CEC Chapter 3.
4. All equipment will be listed and labeled according to CEC 110.3(B).
5. The subpanel may be installed with required working clearances per CEC 110.26.
Complete each requirement with the correct form of the word in brackets.
- All work shall be performed in full with the current edition of the code. COMPLY
- The design shall be with all applicable local amendments. COMPLY
- Grid shall follow the manufacturer’s written procedure. INSTALL
- Conductors shall be sized to the ampacity. SPECIFY
- No work shall proceed without written from the AHJ. APPROVE
Audit your own set
Task card
One of your own drawing sets, open in front of you
Find every note that deviates from the five patterns, and reword it aloud.
- Work sheet by sheet. Read each note out, then say “consistent” or name the pattern it breaks.
- Keep a running list. This becomes a genuine correction issue on a live set, not an exercise.
- If a note is fine, say why it is fine — that is as useful as finding the broken ones.
Prediction versus reality
Compare the will/should/may list you brought against what the audit actually found. Did you predict your own errors correctly? The gap between the two is the most useful thing in this lesson.
Before the next lesson
Homework. Pick the single worst note your audit found and rewrite it properly — full four-slot structure, correct modal, correct citation phrase. One sentence, as good as you can make it.