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6.1 What’s the buzz?

1) The following are newspaper headlines – they are all real! In which cases is
there ambiguity (i.e. more than one possible interpretation), and it which cases
is there only one interpretation?
1. Panda mating fails; vet takes over
2. Miners refuse to work after death
3. Juvenile court to try shooting defendant

4. Killer sentenced to death for second time in 10 years
5. Red tape holds up new bridge
6. Astronaut takes blame for gas in spacecraft
7. Plane too close to the ground, crash probe told

8. Kids make nutritious snacks
9. Local high school dropouts cut in half
10. Sex education delayed, teachers request training

2) The author resources section of Nature highlights the importance of writing in

a 'simple and accessible style':
Many papers submitted for publication in a Nature journal contain unnecessary
technical terminology, unreadable descriptions of the work that has been done, and

convoluted figure legends. Our journal subeditors and copyeditors edit the manu-
script so that it is grammatically correct, logical, clear and concise, uses consistent
search terms, and so that the terminology is consistent with that used in previous
papers published in the journal. Of course, this process is assisted greatly if the
authors have written the manuscript in a simple and accessible style, as the author is
the best person to convey the message of the paper and to persuade readers that it is
important enough to spend time on.

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Subsections 6.2 to 6.9 give some general ideas on how to avoid ambiguity and
unnecessary repetition. The other subsections highlight particular grammar and
vocabulary misusages that can lead to ambiguity. If you read nothing else in this
chapter, ensure that you read 6.3 to 6.5 on the dangers of pronouns and
synonyms.