Transcript Diapositiva 1 - Intercultural Studies Group

Professional Writing in English
Clarity Guidelines (ii)
PowerPoint by Humberto Burcet. March 8, 2007.
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Revision: clarity guidelines (i): 1-3
4. Be positive
5. Modifiers
6. Verbs up front
7. Parallel structure
8. Clear pronouns
9. Stucked modifiers
10. Clear prepositions
Sources: materials designed by Kevin Costello
http://www.bbc.co.uk/skillswise/words/grammar/texttypes/neg
atives/factsheet.shtml
Clarity guidelines (i)
 1. Write shorter sentences
• Make the average length of your sentences between 15
and 20 words.
• Don’t be afraid to use short sentences, but avoid stacks
of them.
• Be very selective with long sentences.
 2. Use the active voice
• Use the active voice—unless there’s a good reason for
using the passive.
 3. Use vigorous verbs
• Nominalizations (the abstraction of the verb) slow
down communication.
4. Be positive
What are double negatives?
A double negative happens when you put two
negative words together in the same sentence.
If the two negative words are talking about the same
thing, they cancel each other out - so the message
becomes positive.
This is confusing and it is a major mistake if you are in
a formal situation (for example, writing a letter or at a
job interview).
4. Be positive
Negative
words
no, not,
none
no-one,
nothing,
nowhere
neither,
nobody,
never
Negative
verbs
doesn't,
isn't, wasn't
wouldn't,
couldn't,
shouldn't
won't,
can't, don't
If you combine any two
of the above words in
the same idea, your
sentence will be positive
(the opposite to what
you intended).
So only use one
negative word in a
sentence when you
want to say that
something is
negative.
4. Be positive
5. Modifiers
Misplaced modifier
I knew a man with a wooden leg called George.
George?
5. Modifiers
 A modifier is a word, phrase or clause that gives
information about—or modifies—another word. If
modifiers are positioned carelessly, texts can be difficult
to understand, or even worse, unsuspecting readers may
get the impression of having understood when in fact
they have not.
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Parents with children who want to be at the front should
arrive at the parade early.
Who wants to be at the front? Parents? Children?
 Only the author knows which meaning is intended: the
readers can only guess. They may not even notice the
source of confusion and misinterpret the sentence.
5. Modifiers
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You can sometimes use commas to remove
ambiguity.
 When it comes to eating people differ in their
tastes.
 When it comes to eating, people differ in their
tastes.
6. Verbs up front
Verb
Make sure the subject and verb of the main clause are
easily located and fairly close to each other.
The verb is the pivot of the sentence. It should come
relatively early in the sentence so that the part before
the verb is shorter than the part after it. The sentences
below are unbalanced and so are difficult to
understand.
6. Verbs up front
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Pressure to prevent the erection of new nuclear
power stations and even to demolish existing
power stations is increasing.
Pressure is increasing to prevent the erection of
new nuclear power stations and even to demolish
existing power stations.
In this study, the care given by a
hospital and the medical outcomes of
patients are compared. The effects of
exogenous factors, such as the types
of illnesses, are accounted for. Also,
the opinions of both patients and
physicians on the quality of health
care are considered.
7. Parallel structure
Avoid faulty parallelism. Be sure you use
grammatically equal sentence elements to express
two or more matching ideas or items in a series.
Incorrect: The candidate’s goals include winning the election, a
health program, and education.
Revised: The candidate’s goals include winning the election,
enacting a national health program, and improving the educational
system.
Incorrect: Some critics are not so much opposed to capital
punishment as postponing it for so long.
Revised: Some critics are not so much opposed to sentencing
convicts to capital punishment as they are to postponing executions
for so long.
7. Parallel structure
I am responsible for:
1. This is non-parallel,
•editing copy
•Supervised layout
and must be changed.
•I have three years experience as a news writer.
I have:
•Edited copy
•Supervised layout
•Spent three years writing news.
I have:
•Edited copy
•Supervised layout
•Written news for three years.
I have:
•Edited copy (one year)
•Supervised layout (two years)
•Written news (three years).
I have experience
•editing copy (one year),
•supervising layout (two years) and
•writing news (three years).
2. Better, but emphasises
the number of years only
in the last item.
3. Even better but not
completely balanced.
4 & 5. Both OK. Notice the
absence of colon; notice
comma and conjunction.
8. Use clear pronouns
Noun 1
Noun 2
Pronoun 1
Pronoun 2
It is all right to give raw milk to your baby, but first you
must boil it.
What must you first boil, the baby or the milk?
8. Use clear pronouns
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There is often a problem with “it”:
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What does Senator Martin sometimes neglect, the
environment or the economy?
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Because Senator Martin is less interested in the
environment than in economic development, he sometimes
neglects it.
No one yet had demonstrated the structure of the human
kidneys, Vesalius having examined them only in dogs.
What does the pronoun “them” refer to? Dogs’ human
kidneys?
9. Unstuck modifiers
Nouns can modify other nouns. That is, they
can act as adjectives. For example, you can
say that an oil engine needs engine oil, or
the “Biochemistry Department” instead of
the “Department of Biochemistry”.
Voluntary
human
However, a phrase with more than two
words should be viewed with suspicion,
particularly if an adjective is included among
the nouns. The relationship may be unclear
even if the string of nouns is fairly short.
kidney
donor
research
institution
personnel
wanted
9. Unstuck modifiers
 English history
teachers.
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Are they history teachers
who are English
Or are they teachers of
English history (of
whatever nationality)?
 Government property
tax reform proposals
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Are they proposals for
reforming government tax
on property?
Or proposals by the
government to reform
property tax?
Hyphenation can
sometimes be a
way of making
meaning clearer, but
normally sentences
should be re-written
and short noun phrases
should be linked
with prepositions.
Stacked modifiers are only clear to the people who
write them
Long term surveillance test
planning
The planning of long term
surveillance tests
Plans for testing long term
surveillance tests
Long term tests for planning
surveillance
10. Clear prepositions
I have read
of
the achievements
the Irish
of
the southern regions
New England.
of
of
 It can be difficult to understand long
strings of prepositional phrases, one
dependent on the other. For example:
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The ambassador took the opportunity for a lecture on the
necessity for improvement of relations between the
People’s Republic of China and the United States.
 This problem is linked to the excessive use of n…
 …nominalizations. Heavy abstract nouns and
prepositional phrases tend to attract each other, and
when a writer habitually uses both, the product is often
wordy and lifeless.
 If the abstract nouns are changed into verbs,
the prepositional problem disappears,
or at least improves considerably:
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The ambassador took the opportunity to lecture on why it
was necessary to improve relations between the People’s
Republic of China and the United States.
10. Clear prepositions
 If you cannot solve the problem by changing
nouns into verbs, at least try to vary the
prepositions. The following sentence, for
example has too many ofs:
 I have read of the achievement of the Irish of
the southern regions of New England.
 In this case, it is a fairly straightforward matter
of changing some of the prepositions:
 I have read about the achievement of the Irish
in the southern regions of New England.
Revision
Locate verbs
near the front
of sentences.