Unit-I Chapter 2

IMPROVING LEVEL
OF
• A sentence or phrase is ambiguous or vague when
it has more than one interpretation or its
interpretation is not obvious.

• If referees are not clear about what you are saying

in a particular sentence, this may affect their
overall understanding of the contribution of the
paper.

• They may thus feel that they are not in a position

to judge the merits of your paper.

• Just two or three ambiguous sentences are enough

for referees to recommend delaying publication.
which / who vs. that
In scientific English, which and that have distinct uses.
For example, imagine you are instructed to do the following:
S1. Correct the sentences below which contain grammatical
mistakes.
S2. Correct the sentences below, which contain grammatical
mistakes.
S3. Correct the sentences below that contain grammatical
mistakes.
S4. Correct the sentences below, all of which contain grammatical
mistakes.
S5. Correct only those sentences below that contain grammatical
mistakes.
S6. My sister, who lives in Paris, is a researcher.
S7. My sister that lives in Paris is a researcher.
which, that and who
which, that and who should only refer to the noun that immediately
precedes them.
S1. A group of patients was compiled using this procedure, as
proposed by Smith and Jones [2010], who had died under
surgery.

S2. A group of patients who had died under surgery was compiled
using this procedure, as proposed by Smith and Jones [2010].

S3. Each scheduling service is characterized by a mandatory set

of QoS parameters, as reported in Table 1, which describes the
guarantees of the applications.

S4. Each scheduling service is characterized by a mandatory set

of QoS parameters, as reported in Table 1. This set describes the
guarantees of the applications.
• -ing form vs. that
• Authors sometimes use the -ing form in what is
effectively a relative clause
(i.e. a clause that begins with that, which or who ).
• This usage is acceptable in phrases such as:
S1. Those students wishing to participate in the call for papers
should contact …
S2. The professor giving the keynote speech at the conference is
from Togo.
S3 it is not clear who has the good level of English: the
students or Prof. Rossi
S3.Professor Rossi teaches the students having a good level
of English.
S4. Professor Rossi teaches the students that have a good
level of English.
S5. Professor Rossi teaches the students since he has a
good level of English.
• - ing form vs. subject + verb
• In clear unambiguous writing, verbs should
be immediately preceded by their subject.

S1.If you take your young daughter in the car, don’t

let her put her head out of the window while
driving.
S2. After consuming twenty bottles of wine, the
conference chair presented the awards to the fifty
best PhD students.
- ing form with by and thus

S1.This will improve performance keeping clients

satisfied.

S2. This will improve performance thus keeping clients

satisfied.

S3. This will improve performance by keeping clients

satisfied.

S4. This will improve performance and clients will (thus)

be satisfied.
a, one and the
S1.The ambiguity is one characteristic of English
language.
S2.Ambiguity is a characteristic of the English
language.
• S3. A researcher spends many days in the lab.
• S4. Researchers spend many days in the lab.
• S5. The researcher spends many days in the lab.
• S6. The researchers spend many days in the lab.
• S7. We made one experiment before the equipment
exploded.
• S8. We made an experiment before the equipment
exploded.
Uncountable nouns

• A countable noun is something you

can count - one apple, two apples.
• An uncountable noun is something
that, at least in English, you cannot
count.
• You cannot say an information, these informations
etc.
• Pronouns
• Some sentences that would not be
ambiguous in your language may
become ambiguous in English.
• For example:
S1.I put the book in the car and then I left it there all
day.
In English we do not know whether it refers to the
book or the car.
Referring backwards: the former, the latter
• above and below
• When making reference to things that are
mentioned earlier or later in your
documents,
• it is best not use above and below in
isolation.
• S1.As mentioned above / before, these
values are important when …
• S2.These points are dealt with in detail
below …
• Use of respectively to disambiguate

• Respectively is a very useful word for

clarifying how items are related to each
other.

• In S1, a basic knowledge of geography

makes it clear that London is associated
with England, and Paris with France.

S1. London and Paris are the capitals of England and

France.
 and
• Most languages, including English, have
a rule that you cannot put a comma
before and. This rule has been
abandoned by the majority of English
writers as too often it can cause
ambiguity.
S1. * I will be free the whole of Monday and Tuesday and Thursday morning
unless one of the professors decides to arrange an extra class.
S2. I will be free the whole of Monday, and (also) Tuesday and Thursday
morning.
S3. I will be free the whole of Monday and Tuesday, and (also) Thursday
morning.
S4. The languages were grouped as follows: Spanish, Italian and Romanian;
German and Dutch; and Swedish and Norwegian.
• both … and, either … or
• both … and is inclusive. either … or is
exclusive.

S1.We studied both English and Spanish.

S2.You can study either English or Spanish.
S3.You cannot study both Russian and Korean.
S4.You cannot study either Russian or Korean.
• False friends
• False friends are words from two different
languages that look very similar but have
different meanings.
• The most common of these is actually,
which in English means in reality, but its
false friend in other languages means at the
moment.
In scientific papers, false friends rarely
cause problems.
Latin words - i.e. versus e.g.
• The problem with many Latin expressions is that
you may know what they mean,but your reader
may not.
• In the examples below i.e. (used for defining) and
e.g. (for giving examples) are not interchangeable.

S1.Great Britain, i.e. England, Scotland and Wales, is the ninth

biggest island in the world and the third most populated.
S2.Some EU members, e.g. Spain, Italy and France, are not in
agreement with this policy.
In S1 i.e. is used to define Great Britain, which contains only
those three countries.
 Monologophobia - the constant search for synonyms

• Monologophobia can cause ambiguity or

confusion for the reader. For example, do
the three words in bold in S1 have a
different meaning.
• S1.Companies have to pay many taxes. In
fact, occasionally enterprises fail because of
over taxation. Some firms resolve this
problem by moving their headquarters to
countries where the tax rate is lower.
Be as precise as possible
• If possible aim at precision. Instead of saying
something happened in a number of cases, be more
exact: this happened in 11 cases.
Choose the least generic word
S1. This kind of investigation, i.e. the analysis of the AS
profiles, also aims to find sets of nodes which behave
similarly and …
S2. Climatic conditions (i.e. temperature, rainfall) were also
checked.
S3. By analyzing AS profiles we can also find sets of nodes
that behave similarly and …
S4. Temperature and rainfall were also checked.
 Clarifying Who Did What

You must make it 100% clear to the reader

whose methodology or results you are talking
about.
• Check your journal’s style - first person or
passive
• How to form the passive and when to use it
• Ensure you use the right tenses to differentiate
your work from others, particularly when your
journal prohibits the use of we
• For journals that allow personal forms, use we
to distinguish yourself from other authors
• Do not use we to explain your thought
process
• When we is acceptable, even when you are
not distinguishing yourself from other
authors
• Make good use of references
• Ensure that readers understand what you
mean when you write the authors
• Use short paragraphs
• Make logical connections between other
authors’ findings and yours
 Highlighting Your Findings
• Ensure that referees can find and understand
the importance of your contribution
• Help your findings to stand out visually on the
page by beginning a new paragraph
• Make your sentences shorter than normal
• Present your key findings in a very short sentence
and list the implications
• Consider using bullets and headings
• Use tables and figures to attract attention
• Signal to the reader that you are about to say
something important by using more dynamic
language
• Only use specific terms when describing
your key findings
• Avoid flat phrases when discussing key
findings
• Be explicit about your findings, so that even
a non-expert can understand them
• Convincing readers to believe your
interpretation of your data
• Show your paper to a non-expert and get
him / her to underline your key findings
• Beware of overstating your project’s
achievements and significance
 Hedging and Criticising

• Why and when to hedge

Hedging entails anticipating possible
opposition by your referees and
readers by not saying things too
assertively or directly.
• If you learn how to hedge, it may help you on
the way to gaining acceptance in your field.
• Hedging does not mean that you should be
vague. In fact, you must be precise as possible.
• It is simply that you express this precision in
an open-minded way that encourages other
authors either to agree with your hypotheses or
to postulate their own.
• S1. *Although many authors have investigated how PhD
students write papers, this is the first attempt to
systematically analyze all the written output (papers, reports,
grant proposals , CVs etc.) of such students.

• S2. *Our results demonstrate that students from humanistic

fields produce longer written texts than students from the
pure sciences and this is due to the fact humanists are more
verbose than pure scientists.
Highlighting and hedging
highlight the importance of your
findings
➢ helping the reader to see your
findings on the pages of your
manuscript
➢using shorter sentences
➢using more dynamic language when
drawing attention to key findings
• You can do all the above and still hedge where
appropriate.
• S1. This is a very important finding.
• S2. These results suggest that this is a very important finding.
• Toning down verbs
• There are some verbs that leave no room for doubt, for
example: is / are, means, equals, demonstrates, proves,
manifests.
• Toning down adjectives and adverbs
• Some adjectives and adverbs have a very strong tone. Here
are some examples:
innovation: innovative, novel, cutting edge, seminal, pivotal
importance: extremely important, very significant, of central / vital /
fundamental importance certainty: clear(ly), obvious(ly), evident(ly),
conclusive(ly), definite(ly), undeniable, undeniably,
undoubtedly
➢ Toning down strong claims by inserting
adverbs
➢ Toning down the level of probability
➢ Anticipating alternative interpretations of
your data
➢ Telling the reader from what standpoint you
wish them to view your data
➢ Dealing with the limitations of your
research
➢ Saving your own face: revealing and
obscuring your identity as the author in
humanist subjects
➢ Saving other author’s faces: put their
research in a positive light
➢ Saving other author’s faces: say their
findings are open to another interpretation
➢ Don’t over hedge
 Paraphrasing and Plagiarism
➢ Plagiarism in its simplest terms means cutting and
pasting from other studies and papers.

➢ It also means taking credit for work that others have

done.

➢ Plagiarism includes plagiarizing your own work. In fact,

some journals stipulate that you cannot use more than
five consecutive words from another paper that you
have written.

➢ If a referee thinks you may have plagiarized other

people’s work or your own, then there is a very high
probability that he or she will recommend rejecting your
paper.
➢ Plagiarism is not difficult to spot
➢ You can copy generic phrases
➢ How to quote directly from other papers
➢ How to quote from another paper by
paraphrasing
➢ Paraphrasing the work of a third author
➢ How to check whether you have inadvertently
committed plagiarism
• To check whether you have inadvertently plagiarized your own
or other people’s work, see if your journal offers Cross Check.
This is a service offered by Cross Ref (www.crossref.org).