Page 57 - English for Writing Research Papers

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When deciding what the subject is for the first sentence in a paragraph, it is gener-
ally best to choose the most recent or newest information. S1 and S2 refer to known
situations – physics, and physicists – they do not give any new information, so they
are not well-constructed sentences.

S3 also begins with a known, in this case velocity . This is fine if velocity is the main
focus. However, given that velocity is a common factor for physicists, then S4 may
be the best solution as it begins with completely new information. The choice
between S3 and S4 will depend on where the author wants to put the focus.

In summary, put the key element to your ‘story’ in the first position (also known as
the ‘topic position’) of a new paragraph.
However, within a paragraph it may make sense to put the old information (i.e. info
mentioned earlier in the paragraph) in the topic position. This enables you to link
sentences together so that the reader understands that info given in a previous sen-

tence is now being further defined in a new sentence.

3.5 Deciding where to put new and old information

within a sentence
S1 and S2 begin with the same subject English , which is the main topic of the sen-
tence. They then present the same two pieces of information, but in a different order.

S1. English, which is the international language of communication , is now studied by 1.1 bil-
lion people.
S2. *English, which is now studied by 1.1 billion people , is the international language of
communication.

In both cases if you removed the ‘which’ clause (in italics) the sentence would still

make sense. But if you removed the final clause it wouldn’t. This would seem to

indicate that the final clause is where we locate the most important information.
Thus the relative position of the various parts of the phrase tells the reader the rela-
tive importance of the information contained on those parts.

In S1, the order of the information tells you that the fact that English is the interna-
tional language of communication is old news, but that 1.1 billion people is new
information that the reader probably does not already know. Thus, the order of the
information in S2 is a little strange because it puts the new information ( 1.1. billion
people ) before the old information ( international language ).