Page 53 - English for Writing Research Papers

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3.1 What's the buzz?

Try to memorize the information contained in the following texts. Why is it hard to do so?
NON-NATIVE SPEAKERSTYPICALLYSAYTHATENGLISH ISASIMPLE LANGUAGE
BECAUSE IT FAVORS SHORT CLEAR SENTENCES SuCh NoN- nAtiVe spEAkeRS
thEn saythattheirownlanguageisnotlikeEnglishbecauseitfavorslong complex sentences

00399340788304
different languages use punctuation in different ways before you submit your text for google
translation if possible try to punctuate it in an English way keep the sentences short replace
semicolons with full stops and where appropriate use commas to break up the various parts
of the sentence

The texts are difficult to read because they are not in the usual or optimum form for

presenting information. The same effort that it took you to read the above texts is
similar to the effort that will be required by a referee or native English speaker to
follow your text if it is
• poorly structured

• poorly punctuated

• written in long paragraphs and sentences

• full of ambiguity and redundancy
If you force your reader to spend a lot of energy and time on deciphering your papers,
you are also stopping them from spending the same time and energy on their work.

I am sure you would agree that the information at the beginning of this page would
be better presented as:

Non-native speakers typically say that English is a simple language because it favors short
clear sentences. Such non-native speakers then say that their own language is not like
English because it favors long complex sentences.

0039 934 0788 304
Different languages use punctuation in different ways. Before you submit your text for
Google translation, if possible try to punctuate it in an English way. Keep the sentences
short, replace semicolons with full stops, and where appropriate use commas to break up
the various parts of the sentence.

To take the example of the telephone number: it may be quicker for you to write
your phone number as one long uninterrupted sequence of numbers, but it is not
quicker for your reader to dial or remember the number.
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