Wordy Words And Phrases

             Wordy Words And Phrases

Written by Daniel Holtom & Elizabeth Fisher in Eniov Writing Your Science Thesis or Dissertation. London. Imperial College Press. 1999. pp.256-260.

  

Image: samingersoll.com

Try to remove these words and phrases from your text. They  are usually unnecessary.

1. above

Above can cause wordiness, for example,

The argument experiment outlined above proved crucial to our research.

You could just write,

This proved crucial to our research.

Below is a little more useful. You can use it as a signpost for related information or argument the reader will find useful, for example,

I will deal with this contradiction below.

2. amount

‘A large amount’ is vague, and ‘a maximum’ amount is redundant maximum and minimum are amounts.

3. all, all of

Try to get rid of the ‘of, ‘all the samples’ is more concise than ‘all of the samples’.

4. area

My research was in the area of delta wing aeronautical  design.

could be written more concisely,

My research was in delta wing aeronautical design.

5. as far as

As far as bore holes are concerned, I had no problems.

You could just write, I had no problems with bore holes.

6. both, both of

Both of the traces indicated an increase in activity. This does not need the of and could be written,

Both traces indicated an increase in activity.

6. capability

The plastic has the capability of reforming itself.

You could just write,

The plastic can reform itself,

7. cause and result

At times you have to make clear what is a cause and what is a result, but

there are often quicker ways of saying what you mean; compare the

following, for example,

The addition of NaCI caused an improvement in taste.

Adding NaCl improved the taste.

8. clearly demonstrates, shows

If data clearly demonstrate a phenomenon, then they really show it.

The spectrophotometer readings clearly demonstrate a decrease in density.

The spectrophotometer readings show a decrease in density.

9. definitely

Unless there is some question hanging over what you are saying, definitely

is unnecessary and often looks desperate to be convincing.

10. due to the fact that

This really means ‘because’. . .

11. in addition

If you are adding something to your text, you do not need to tell the reader

you are doing so by using ‘in addition’.

12. in colour, in appearance

Both of these phrases are unnecessary,

The landfish was red in colour.

The landfish was red in appearance.

could simply be written as,

The landfish was red.

13. in order to

Use ‘to’.

14. literally

A word best avoided in your thesis. You whole text should be literal.

15. manner

Manner always makes your sentence wordy.

The chemical were added in a slow manner.

The chemicals were added slowly. [This example is also vague.]

16. nature

Chewing gum has an elastic nature.

Chewing gum is elastic.

17. process

Unless you are actually discussing a process this is a word to avoid. For

example, you do not have to write ‘the stratification 

18. personally

Personally I think.. .

This is not only wordy but can deflate your argument. It implies that other

people would disagree with you. I think does the job better.

19. pooled together

If you pool samples, then they must be together, so you could write,

The sulphide samples were pooled together.

as simply, The sulphide samples were pooled.

20. reason, because

You only need one of them, as they do the same job.

21. seldom ever

You do not need the ever.

22. similar, very similar

The very is redundant. Writing that two items are very similar tells us no

more than if we write they are similar.

23. sized

Large sized.. .

If something is large, we know this refers to size, so the word sized is

redundant. [This example is also vague.]

24. that

One that in a sentence is normally more than enough unless you want to

stress a point; for example, the first and second sentences are clear, the

third sentence is full of redundant thats:

I found I could not move, wanted to go to the toilet, had a headache, and had fallen down the stairs.

I found that I could not move, wanted to go to the toilet, had a headache, and had fallen down the stairs.

I found that I could not move, that I wanted to go to the toilet, that I had a headache, and that I had fallen down the stairs.

25. the field of

This is useful when you are giving the general area in which you work,

My research was in the field of Para-psychology.

but it can get overused,

The field of para-psychology is seldom taken seriously by other scientists.

could equally well be written,

Para-psychology is seldom taken seriously by other