Marked words appear in this translation and in no other English translation of this verse. Common small words and older spellings are not marked. The marks show where the wording differs, not where the meaning does.
Talal Itani· published 2012
And they swore by God with their solemn oaths, that if a warner came to them, they would be more guided than any other people. Yet when a warner came to them, it only increased them in aversion.
Translation Talal Itani, ClearQuran·Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1875–1936 · published 1930
And they swore by Allah, their most binding oath, that if a warner came unto them they would be more tractable than any of the nations; yet, when a warner came unto them it aroused in them naughtsaverepugnance
Sources
Translation Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran·Public domain — copyright term expired
Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran·1930 translation, digital edition of unverified printing·None — public domain work
·Public domain — copyright term expired·retrieved 24 Aug 2026
Edward Henry Palmer1840–1882 · published 1880
They swore by God with their most strenuous oath, verily, if there come to them a warner they would be more guided than any one of the nations; but when a warner comes to them, it only increases them in aversion
Sources
Translation Edward Henry Palmer, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
They swore by God with their mightiest oath that should a preacher come to them they would yield to guidance more than any people: but when the preacher came to them it only increased in them their estrangement
Sources
Translation John Medows Rodwell, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
The Koreish swore by God, with a most solemn oath, that if a preacher had come unto them, they would surely have been more willinglydirected than any nation: But now a preacher is come unto them, it hath only increased in them their aversion from the truth
Sources
Translation George Sale, English translation of the Qur'an·Public domain — copyright term expired
George Sale, English translation of the Qur'an·1734 translation, digital edition of unverified printing·None — public domain work
·Public domain — copyright term expired·retrieved 24 Aug 2026
Other languages (18)Shqip · Albanian
Ata betoheshin fuqishëm në Allahun se, nëse do t'u vinte një paralajmërues, ata me siguri do të ishin më të udhëzuar se çdo popull tjetër. Por, kur u erdhi paralajmëruesi, vetëm sa ua shtoi largimin,
Translated by the team of Rowwad Translation Center, in cooperation with the Rabwah Dawah Association, the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages, and the IslamHouse.com website.
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.5
বাংলা · Bengali
আর তারা দৃঢ়তার সাথে আল্লাহর নামে শপথ করে বলতো যে, যদি তাদের কাছে কোনো সতর্ককারী আসে, তাহলে তারা অবশ্যই (ইয়াহূদী-খ্রিষ্টান বা) অন্য যেকোনো জাতির চেয়ে অধিক হিদায়াতপ্রাপ্ত হবে; কিন্তু যখন তাদের নিকট সতর্ককারী (নবী মুহাম্মাদ) আসল, তখন তা কেবল তাদের (সত্য-) বিমুখতাই বৃদ্ধি করলো।
Translated by the team of Rowwad Translation Center, in cooperation with the Dawah Association in Rabwah, the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages, and the IslamHouse.com website.
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.1.2
Bosanski · Bosnian
Oni su se zaklinjali Allahom, najtežom zakletvom, da će se, bolje nego bilo koji narod, držati Pravog puta – samo ako im dođe onaj koji će ih opominjati. I kad im je došao onaj koji opominje, njegov im je dolazak samo povećao otuđenje,
Translated by the team of the Rowwad Translation Center, in cooperation with the Rabwah Dawah Association, the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages, and the IslamHouse.com website.
From QuranEnc.com, version 2.0.4
Hrvatski · Croatian
Oni su se zaklinjali Allahom, najtežom zakletvom, da će se, bolje nego bilo koji narod, držati Pravog puta – samo ako im dođe onaj koji će ih opominjati. I kad im je došao onaj koji opominje, njegov im je dolazak samo povećao otuđenje,
Translated by the team of the Rowwad Translation Center, in cooperation with the Rabwah Dawah Association, the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages, and the IslamHouse.com website.
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.1
Fulfulde · Fulani
Ɓe ngoodndiri Alla, hattirde e goondooje maɓɓe, won'de si jeertinoowo arii e maɓɓe, pellet, ɓe ngonay ɓurɓe feewude wootere e mofte ɗen. Nde jeertinoowo non arunoo e maɓɓe, ɗum ɓeydaali ɓe, si wonaa woɗɗitagol.
Translated by the team of the Rowwad Translation Center, in cooperation with the Rabwah Dawah Association, the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages, and the IslamHouse.com website.
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.2
ქართული · Georgian
და ისინი [ურწმუნო ყურაიშელები] ალლაჰით იფიცებოდნენ თავიანთი უდიდესი ფიცით, რომ თუ მოვიდოდა მათთან შემგონებელი, აუცილებლად დადგებოდნენ უფრო სწორ გზაზე, ვიდრე ნებისმიერი [წინა] ერი. მაგრამ მას შემდეგ, რაც მოვიდა მათთან შემგონებელი [მოციქული მუჰამმადი], ამან მხოლოდ კიდევ უფრო გაზარდა მათში დაშორება [ჭეშმარიტებისგან].
Translated by the team of the Rowwad Translation Center, in cooperation with the Rabwah Dawah Association, the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages, and the IslamHouse.com website.
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.7
Deutsch · German
Und sie haben bei Allah ihre kräftigsten Eide geschworen, sie würden, wenn ein Warner zu ihnen käme, ganz gewiss eher rechtgeleitet sein als irgendeine der Gemeinschaften. Als dann aber ein Warner zu ihnen kam, mehrte es in ihnen nur (noch) die Abneigung,
Translated by the team of the Rowwad Translation Center, in cooperation with the Rabwah Dawah Association, the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages, and the IslamHouse.com website.
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.15
Ελληνικά · Greek
Ορκίστηκαν με το Όνομα του Αλλάχ με πολύ ζήλο στην ορκομωσία τους ότι αν θα τους ερχόταν ένας προειδοποιητής, θα γινόντουσαν πιο καθοδηγημένοι από τα άλλα έθνη (τους Χριστιανούς και τους Εβραίους κλπ.). Αλλά όταν τους ήρθε ένας προειδοποιητής, δεν τους αύξησε (ο ερχομός του) παρά μόνο σε αποστροφή (από την αλήθεια).
Translated by the team of the Rowwad Translation Center, in cooperation with the Rabwah Dawah Association, the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages, and the IslamHouse.com website.
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.2
हिन्दी · Hindi
और उन (काफ़िरों) ने अल्लाह की पक्की क़समें खाई थीं कि यदि उनके पास कोई डराने वाला (नबी) आया, तो वे अवश्य किसी भी अन्य समुदाय से अधिक सीधे रास्ते पर चलने वाले हो जाएँगे। फिर जब उनके पास एक डराने वाला[16] आ गया, तो इससे उनके (सत्य से) दूर भागने ही में वृद्धि हुई।
Translated by Azizul Haq Al-Omari
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.1.5
Italiano · Italian
E giurarono su Allāh che, se fosse arrivato loro un ammonitore, sarebbero stati molto più giusti di tutti gli altri popoli. Ma quando arrivò loro un ammonitore, non aumentò loro se non le avversità,
Translated by the team of the Rowwad Translation Center, in cooperation with the Rabwah Dawah Association, the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages, and the IslamHouse.com website.
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.2
Lietuvių · Lithuanian
42. Ir jie prisiekė Allahu savo labiausiai susaistančias priesaikas, kad jei pas juos ateis perspėtojas, jie bus labiau teisingai vedami nei bet kokia kita tauta (prieš juos). Tačiau kai perspėtojas (Muchammedas ﷺ) atėjo pas juos, tai padidino juose nieka kita, tik atsitraukimą (nuo tiesos).
Translated by the team of the Rowwad Translation Center, in cooperation with the Rabwah Dawah Association, the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages, and the IslamHouse.com website.
Translated by the team of the Rowwad Translation Center, in cooperation with the Rabwah Dawah Association, the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages, and the IslamHouse.com website.
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.0
Русский · Russian
Они поклялись Аллахом — самой твёрдой из своих клятв — что если к ним придёт предостерегающий, то они непременно последуют более верным путём, чем любая другая община. Но когда предостерегающий явился к ним, то это прибавило им лишь отвращения.
Translated by the team of the Rowwad Translation Center, in cooperation with the Rabwah Dawah Association, the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages, and the IslamHouse.com website.
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.1
Српски · Serbian
Они су се заклињали Аллахом, најтежом заклетвом, да ће, боље него било који народ, да се држе Правог пута - само ако им дође онај који ће да их опомиње. И кад им је дошао онај који опомиње, његов долазак само им је повећао одбојност;
Translated by the team of the Rowwad Translation Center, in cooperation with the Rabwah Dawah Association, the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages, and the IslamHouse.com website.
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.4
Kiswahili · Swahili
Na waliapa kwa Mwenyezi Mungu ukomo wa kuapa kwao, kwamba akiwajia mwonyaji, bila ya shaka watakuwa waongofu zaidi kuliko taifa jingine lolote. Lakini alipowajia mwonyaji, hakuwazidishia ila kuikimbia hiyo Haki.
Issued by the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.5
Svenska · Swedish
De svor sina dyraste eder vid Gud att om en varnare kom till dem, skulle de följa den rätta vägen bättre än något av de andra folken. Men när varnaren kom till dem ökade det i stället deras ovilja.
Translated by the team of the Rowwad Translation Center, in cooperation with the Rabwah Dawah Association, the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages, and the IslamHouse.com website.
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.2
Türkçe · Turkish
Kendilerine bir uyarıcı (peygamber) gelirse, ümmetler içinde en doğru yolda olacaklarına, dair bütün güçleriyle Allah’a yemin ettiler. Fakat onlara uyarıcı (Muhammed -sallallahu aleyhi ve sellem-) gelince; bu, onların haktan uzaklaşmalarından başka bir şeyi arttırmadı.
Translated by the team of the Rowwad Translation Center, in cooperation with the Rabwah Dawah Association, the Islamic Content Service Association in Languages, and the IslamHouse.com website.
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.0.4
اردو · Urdu
اور ان کفار نے بڑی زوردار قسم کھائی تھی کہ اگر ان کے پاس کوئی ڈرانے واﻻ آئے تو وه ہر ایک امت سے زیاده ہدایت قبول کرنے والے ہوں[1] ۔ پھر جب ان کے پاس ایک پیغمبر آ پہنچے[2] تو بس ان کی نفرت ہی میں اضافہ ہوا.
Translated by Muhammad Ibrahim Junagarhi, developed under the supervision of the Rowwad Translation Center. The original translation is available for the purpose of expressing opinion, evaluation, and continuous development.
From QuranEnc.com, version 1.1.3
About these translations
5 cleared translations, newest first, by year of publication, so the modern English comes before the historical ones. That is an ordering by date, not a judgement. Each is shown complete — this platform never excerpts a translation — and each renders under its translator's name. No translation here is marked as the correct one.
Which translations appear here is set by copyright: they are the ones whose rights could be documented and cleared. The selection is not a judgement that these are the best.
About easy-read
Easy-read
Easy-read is a simplified pronunciation,
not authoritative — a rule-by-rule romanisation, not a reading.
Each verse ends in its pause form, as it is said when you stop there. Pauses inside a verse and other tajwid rules are not shown. It is derived from the Tanzil
Simple edition, while the Arabic above is the
Uthmani edition; both are cleared, but they are not the
same edition and their orthography differs.
Easy-read (simplified)qul ara'aytum shurakaa'akumu lladheena tad'oona min dooni llaahi aroonee maadhaa khalaqoo mina l-'ardi am lahum shirkun fee s-samaawaati am aataynaahum kitaaban fahum 'alaa bayyinatin minhu bal in ya'idu z-zaalimoona ba'duhum ba'dan illaa ghurooraa
DIN 31635qul ʾaraʾaytum šurakāʾakumu llaḏīna tadʿūna min dūni llāhi ʾarūnī māḏā ḫalaqū mina l-ʾarḍi ʾam lahum širkun fī s-samāwāti ʾam ʾātaynāhum kitāban fahum ʿalā bayyinatin minhu bal ʾin yaʿidu ẓ-ẓālimūna baʿḍuhum baʿḍan ʾillā ġurūran
Talal Itani2012 Say, "Have you considered those partners of yours that you worship instead of God? Show me what they have created on earth. Or do they have any share in the heavens?" Or have We given them a book whose clear teachings they follow? In fact, the wrongdoers promise one another nothing but delusions.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 Say: Have ye seen your partner-gods to whom ye pray beside Allah? Show me what they created of the earth! Or have they any portion in the heavens? Or have We given them a scripture so they act on clear proof therefrom? Nay, the evil-doers promise one another only to deceive
Edward Henry Palmer1880 Say, 'Have ye considered your associates whom ye call on beside God?' show me what they created of the earth ; have they a share in the heavens, or have we given them a book that they rest on a manifest sign? nay the unjust promise each other naught but guile
John Medows Rodwell1861 SAY: What think ye of the gods whom ye invoke beside God? Shew me what part of the earth they have created? Had they a share in the creation of the Heavens? Have we given them a Book in which they can find proofs that they are to be called on? Nay, the wicked promise one another only deceits
George Sale1734 Say, what think ye of your deities which ye invoke besides God? Shew me what part of the earth they have created. Or had they any share in the creation of the heavens? Have We given unto the idolaters any book of revelations, so that they may rely on any proof therefrom to authorize their practice? Nay: But the ungodly make unto one another only deceitful promises
Easy-read (simplified)inna llaaha yumsiku s-samaawaati wal-'arda an tazoolaa wala'in zaalataa in amsakahumaa min ahadin min ba'dihi innahu kaana haleeman ghafooraa
DIN 31635ʾinna llāha yumsiku s-samāwāti wal-ʾarḍa ʾan tazūlā walaʾin zālatā ʾin ʾamsakahumā min ʾaḥadin min baʿdihi ʾinnahu kāna ḥalīman ġafūran
Talal Itani2012 God holds the heavens and the earth, lest they fall apart. And were they to fall apart, there is none to hold them together except He. He is Most Clement, Most Forgiving.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 Lo! Allah graspeth the heavens and the earth that they deviate not, and if they were to deviate there is not one that could grasp them after Him. Lo! He is ever Clement, Forgiving
Edward Henry Palmer1880 Verily, God holds back the heavens and the earth lest they should decline; and if they should decline there is none to hold them back after Him; verily, He is clement, forgiving
John Medows Rodwell1861 Verily God holdeth fast the Heavens and the Earth that they pass not away: and if they were passing away none could hold them back but He: for He is Kind, Gracious
George Sale1734 Verily God sustaineth the heavens and the earth, lest they fail: And if they should fail, none could support the same besides Him; He is gracious and merciful
Talal Itani2012 Priding themselves on earth, and scheming evil. But evil scheming overwhelms none but its authors. Do they expect anything but the precedent of the ancients? You will not find any change in God's practice, and you will not find any substitute to God's practice.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 (Shown in their) behaving arrogantly in the land and plotting evil; and the evil plot encloseth but the men who make it. Then, can they expect aught save the treatment of the folk of old? Thou wilt not find for Allah's way of treatment any substitute, nor wilt thou find for Allah's way of treatment aught of power to change
Edward Henry Palmer1880 and in being big with pride in the earth, and in plotting evil; but the plotting of evil only entangles those who practise it; can they then expect aught but the course of those of yore? but thou shalt not find any alteration in the course of God; and they shall not find any change in the course of God
John Medows Rodwell1861 Their haughtiness on earth and their plotting of evil! But the plotting of evil shall only enmesh those who make use of it. Look they then for aught but God's way of dealing with the peoples of old? Thou shalt not find any change in the way of God, - Yea, thou shalt not find any variableness in the way of God
George Sale1734 their arrogance in the earth, and their contriving of evil; but the contrivance of evil shall only encompass the authors thereof. Do they expect any other than the punishment awarded against the unbelievers of former times? For thou shalt not find any change in the ordinance of God; neither shalt thou find any variation in the ordinance of God
Talal Itani2012 Have they not journeyed in the land and observed the fate of those who preceded them? They were superior to them in strength. But nothing can defeat God in the heavens or on Earth. He is indeed Omniscient and Omnipotent.
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall1930 Have they not travelled in the land and seen the nature of the consequence for those who were before them, and they were mightier than these in power? Allah is not such that aught in the heavens or in the earth escapeth Him. Lo! He is the Wise, the Mighty
Edward Henry Palmer1880 Have they not journeyed on in the land and seen what was the end of those before them who were stronger than they? but God, nothing can ever make Him helpless in the heavens or in the earth; verily, He is knowing, powerful
John Medows Rodwell1861 Have they never journeyed in the land and seen what hath been the end of those who flourished before them, though mightier in strength than they? God is not to be frustrated by aught in the Heavens or in the Earth; for He is the All-knowing, the All-mighty
George Sale1734 Have they not gone through the earth, and seen what hath been the end of those who were before them; although they were more mighty in strength than they? God is not to be frustrated by any thing either in heaven or on earth; for He is wise and powerful
These figures count the words the translations share. They measure wording, not meaning, and they do not say which translation is right.
Derived measure: mean pairwise Jaccard distance over the
lowercased word sets of the 5 renderings above —
0.57 on a scale
where 0 means identical wording and 1 means no shared words. It is
computed, not judged.
The page says a verse is worded differently only above the cut below. The cut is a stated convention, not a property of the text, and it can be changed.
The cut
0.644
Share of measured verses above it
33%
Verses above it
2,079
Verses measured
6,236
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · George Sale0.67
Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall · John Medows Rodwell0.64
Talal Itani · George Sale0.61
Edward Henry Palmer · George Sale0.58
Edward Henry Palmer · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.55
John Medows Rodwell · George Sale0.55
Talal Itani · Mohammed Marmaduke William Pickthall0.55
Edward Henry Palmer · John Medows Rodwell0.53
Talal Itani · Edward Henry Palmer0.50
Talal Itani · John Medows Rodwell0.49
One bar per pair of renderings, longest bar for the pair
sharing fewest words. Every pair is shown; none is singled out.
Method Wording differences — derived 13 September 2026
Method
Mean pairwise Jaccard distance over the lowercased word sets of the cleared translations of each verse. A verse is marked as worded differently when its score falls in the top third of the corpus — the cut set out in Analysis details.
As at
13 September 2026, 10:56 UTC
Gate
verify/divergence_gate.py re-derives and fails on drift
The platform does not say which is right, and does not
characterise what the difference means. The renderings are placed
together so the difference is visible; reading it is the reader's work.
7 sources
stand behind this page. Each is listed once, in the order the page first
cites it, with the licence it was cleared under and what was actually read.
Nothing on this page rests on a source that is not here.
Source Tanzil Qur'an text (Uthmani) · Uthmani, Version 1.1
Hafs/Kufan verse numbering, 6236 ayahs. The bismillah is delivered as a separate `bismillah` attribute on ayah 1 and is NOT fused into the ayah text. 112 surahs carry one: every surah except al-Fatiha, where the bismillah is ayah 1:1 itself, and at-Tawba, which has none. Sourced from the XML output; the plain-text output of the same release DOES fuse it, which is defect D1.
CLEARED. Licence read verbatim from the block embedded in this very file. Ingested exactly as shipped: no normalisation, no stripping of marks, no Unicode recomposition.
Parsed structurally from the EPUB: an h3 names the surah, one p per verse with its number in its own span. An unnumbered p is the basmala and is not a verse, except in surah 1 where the basmala IS verse 1. 112 unnumbered paragraphs were found, which is 114 surahs less surah 1 and surah 9. Text is stored VERBATIM: NFC normalisation and XML entity unescaping only, because CC BY-ND forbids modification.
CLEARED on a licence read first-hand from the translator's own download page, not from an aggregator. Tanzil also hosts this translation, but under a blanket "non-commercial purposes only" term that directs the user to the translator or publisher for permission - a hosting disclaimer, not a grant - so the grant was taken from the licensor directly. The "God" edition was ingested; ClearQuran also publishes an "Allah" edition, differing in how the divine name is rendered, which is not ingested.
CLEARED ON THE WORK, WITH TWO RECORDED CAVEATS ON THIS COPY. (1) Rights basis is the expired copyright term, NOT the redistributing repository's licence. That repository dedicates its contents to the public domain under the Unlicense while also redistributing plainly in-copyright translations (Abdel Haleem, Saheeh International, The Study Quran), so it is dedicating rights it cannot hold and its blanket grant is not relied upon here. (2) The file declares its own upstream as tanzil.net, and Tanzil attaches a non-commercial condition to its TRANSLATION distributions, though not to its Qur'anic text. Since Pickthall's copyright has expired, nobody holds rights in these words and no licence is required from anyone; Tanzil's terms are a contract binding those who download from Tanzil, which we did not. The chain is nonetheless not spotless and Anwar may prefer a clean digitisation of the 1930 printing. NOT VERIFIED: that this digital text matches the 1930 first printing rather than a later revised edition. No page images were collated. Recorded as unverified rather than presented as established. SERVED TEXT DIFFERS FROM THE CITED FILE AT ONE VERSE, 37:97: the file reads "red-hotfire" (a glued token, also in Gutenberg #16955); the served row reads "red-hot fire", restored 2026-09-13 from Pickthall, The Meaning of the Glorious Koran (London: George Allen & Unwin, printed for Alfred A. Knopf; 1930), p. 460, XXXVII 97 - scan archive.org in.ernet.dli.2015.216140, PDF page 475; banked data/derivation-sources/pickthall-1930-dli-2015.216140-text.pdf (sha256 70e81146c97fa3a590243a82e04e349108546074787e2551a78c616202138870) on Anwar Malik's grant.
Hafs/Kufan verse numbering, 6236 verses, keyed to mushaf order. The
bismillah is not fused into ayah 1: 1:1 carries it and no other verse
does. Verified against content check C3 at ingest.
CLEARED ON THE WORK. Term expired by every measure. The digital edition's upstream is not stated by the redistributor and the printing is unverified. No statement of purpose is recorded for Palmer because none was sourced from his own preface in this pass; nothing is asserted on his behalf.
Hafs/Kufan verse numbering, 6236 verses, keyed to mushaf order. The
bismillah is not fused into ayah 1: 1:1 carries it and no other verse
does. Verified against content check C3 at ingest.
CLEARED ON THE WORK. Term expired by every measure. TWO edition caveats. (1) The upstream is not stated by the redistributor. (2) Rodwell's own edition PRESENTS THE SURAHS IN HIS OWN CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER, not the mushaf order — he says so in his preface. This digital text is keyed to mushaf order, so it derives from a restored-order printing (such as the Everyman edition) rather than from Rodwell's own arrangement. Which printing is not stated and has not been established.
Hafs/Kufan verse numbering, 6236 verses, keyed to mushaf order. The
bismillah is not fused into ayah 1: 1:1 carries it and no other verse
does. Verified against content check C3 at ingest.
CLEARED ON THE WORK. Term expired by every measure. The digital edition's upstream is NOT STATED by the redistributor, so the printing it represents is unverified; Sale's text was reprinted and re-edited many times between 1734 and 1900. Recorded as unverified rather than assumed to be the first edition.
Hafs/Kufan verse numbering, 6236 ayahs. The bismillah is delivered as a separate `bismillah` attribute on ayah 1 and is NOT fused into the ayah text. 112 surahs carry one: every surah except al-Fatiha, where the bismillah is ayah 1:1 itself, and at-Tawba, which has none. Sourced from the XML output; the plain-text output of the same release DOES fuse it, which is defect D1.
CLEARED. Parallel edition, held in ayah_text_variants. It sits alongside the Uthmani spine for search normalisation and is never used to correct it.