drawing a map

[Ju]

To draw a map precisely, people would put a piece of paper on top of the map to outline instead of drawing it by themself.

• Can you correct the above sentence for me?
• How should I describe this kind of drawing, will it be "copying'.. or what?

Thanks

[BobK]

Your sentence is fine , but use 'trace it' instead of 'outline'

b

PS
Oh - and themself sounds wrong, now I think of it. So your sentence becomes 'To draw a map precisely, people would put a piece of paper on top of the map to trace it instead of drawing it by themselves.'

[atadri]

Hi,
"people would put a piece of paper on top of the map to trace it instead of drawing it by themselves"
I think that " trace" has the same meaning as draw.

atadri

[pedant]

Sorry, no.

Draw could be anything, you could draw a picture from your imagination. You could draw on a blackboard, you could draw in the sand. This action is called 'drawing'.

Trace is specifically used to describe the act of putting a transparent sheet of paper over another image and drawing over the outlines you can see under the top sheet of paper. This action is called 'tracing'.

Hence the commercially available product: 'tracing paper'.

Note that 'tracing' is not the same as 'copying'.

'Tracing' also has other meanings not connected with this drawing activity, such as 'tracing a long lost friend', but that is not relevant here.

[BobK]

Yet another way of reproducing a map is to use a pantograph: http://paperpunch.opnet.co.uk/Images/252/020593.jpg - but most people use tracing paper!

b