Page 75 - English for Writing Research Papers

Chapter 4

Breaking Up Long Sentences

Factoids

A survey carried out at Stanford University revealed that 86.4% of students
admitted that in order to appear more intelligent they used complex language
in their essays, theses and dissertations.

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The average length of a sentence in English has become shorter and shorter
over the centuries. In Shakespeare’s time it was about 45 words, 150 years ago
it was about 29 words, and today’s experts recommend between 15 and 18
words.

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In The Effective Communicator , communications expert John Adair reports
that approximately 90% of people understand an 8-word sentence on fi rst
reading, but only about 4% understand a 27-word sentence first time around,

especially if it is poorly punctuated.
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You will lose more readers in the first 50 words than you will in the next 250.
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The Viennese art historian, Ernst Gombrich wrote many of his books in

English rather than in his native German. His Story of Art , first published in
1950, is one of the most widely accessible art history books ever published,
precisely because it is written in a clear, simple, unpretentious style.

© Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2016 57
A. Wallwork, English for Writing Research Papers,
English for Academic Research, DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-26094-5_4