Writing Scientific English. Timothy Skern
way to find out about direct sentences is to listen to how people talk to each other. People talk in short sentences, even in German. One of the secrets of the most able science writers is that they write as if they were speaking to the reader. This automatically leads them to use simple, straightforward sentences. Jacob Bronowski's wonderful book “The Ascent of Man” is a fine example. In the videos that accompany this book, two of the students very effectively empahsise this point by speaking in short, clear sentences (see section 7.4).
Box 2.1 provides you with four sentences that are too long. Can you split them into two? section 2.5.1 has some suggestions.
Writing short, straightforward sentences is a starting point. Of course, it is necessary to add minor points or to qualify the content of a sentence in scientific writing. For instance, a common construction to qualify the content in scientific writing is the escape route or disclaimer. In this construction, a scientist first makes a clear statement. A second part then follows, indicating that the statement is probably not true for every situation. For example, consider the following two sentences which a virologist might hopefully write one day.
“We have developed a vaccine against HIV. However, we have not yet tested it against all known strains of HIV.”
The second sentence qualifies the direct statement in the first. This allows the scientist to escape in case the vaccine is not universally applicable. The meaning is clearly expressed by the two sentences. However, combining the sentences connects the qualification or escape route more closely with the first sentence.
“We have developed a vaccine against HIV, although we have not yet tested it against all known strains of HIV.”
With more practice and experience, you can begin to construct sentences with more than one idea and qualify statements with one sentence as above. Always keep in mind, though, that simpler sentences are generally more manageable.
Box 2.1Shortening sentences by splitting them into two
These four sentences are too long and should be split into shorter ones. What would you suggest? Compare your ideas with mine in section 2.5.1.
1. To be a good scientist, you have to be tolerant and patient when experiments or interpretations do not turn out as you had predicted, you must be able to stand high levels of frustration.
2. 62% of certified drug addicts believe that cannabis has effects on the behaviour of car drivers and machine operators which lengthen their reaction time, 45% of students shared this opinion and only 38% of customers interviewed at discotheques were aware of this negative effect of cannabis.
3. Finally, the correlation has been clearly shown, even though not all parameters have as yet been investigated and further investigations have to be done.
4. This results in texts which are extremely difficult to read as well as revealing to the world that their authors are clueless about paragraph structure.
2.1.5Write positive sentences
What is the difference between positive and negative sentences? Negative sentences contain words such as “no”, “not”, “none”, “nor”, “nothing” and “never”. Positive sentences lack these words. Generally, positive sentences are easier to understand and more simple to construct than negative ones. Compare the following two versions of the same thought.
“Scientists for whom English is not their first language should not be at a disadvantage.”
“Scientists for whom English is a second language should have the same status as native speakers.”
Which was simpler to construct? Which do you think is more comprehensible? Box 2.2 gives you ten further examples to practise turning negative sentences into positive ones.
Here is another example with two negatives taken from the preface (p. xvi) to Fintan O’Toole’s excellent treatise “Heroic Failure” on how Brexit came about.
“Nor does this purport to be a profound analysis of the economic dislocations and insecurities without which English unhappiness could not have had such a dramatic result.”
Even the lady at the publisher who gave me permission to use the sentence agreed that this is quite a sentence. Here is a clearer version without any negatives.
“This (book) also avoids an analysis of the economic dislocations and insecurities that allowed English unhappiness to have such a dramatic result”.
Which version do you think is clearer? I also selected this sentence because it introduces you to the word “purport”, often used in science instead of pretend. “Purport” is often found in the introduction to an unfavourable review of a manuscript as in the following imaginary example.
“This manuscript purports to show a relationship between A and B. However, the manuscript fails to achieve this goal for the following reasons.”
If you are still unsure about the meaning of this word, you can find examples of its use by searching PubMed for abstracts that contain it.
I have tried to write positive sentences in this book. Clearly, it is impossible to permanently avoid negative words, so that there are quite a few negative sentences. It is just something to keep in mind. Check your work for complex negative sentences and try to keep them to a minimum.
Box 2.2Positive and negative sentences
Turn the following negative sentences into positive ones. They contain most of the standard negative constructions used in English. You may find some of the following words useful: absent, avoid, constant, contain, fail, ignore, lack, overlook, questionable, resistant. My suggestions can be found in section 2.5.2.
1. The experiment did not work.
2. No changes were observed in any of the variables tested.
3. There is not a piece of evidence supporting this hypothesis.
4. The variation was never more than 1%.
5. None of the alternative explanations seemed likely.
6. Neither the fear of global warming nor the number of fatal accidents influence car drivers.
7. Nothing is dangerous about this method.
8. No-one noticed the discrepancy between the two sets of data.
9. In none of the samples could the desired compound be found.
10. No less than eleven substances were present in the mixture.
2.1.6Write active sentences
What is the difference between active and passive sentences? “We mixed A and B” is an active sentence. “A and B were mixed together” is the passive version. Active sentences are more direct, shorter and clearer. Compare the following two versions of the same thought.
“The ability of the antibiotics to inhibit bacterial growth was examined by using standard techniques.” (15 words)
“We used standard techniques to examine the ability of antibiotics to inhibit bacterial growth.” (14 words)
The active sentence is much clearer. Here is another example, based on a sentence frequently found in scientific writing. Once again, the active version is preferable.
“The improved versions are presented in section x.” (8 words)
“Section x presents the improved versions.” (6 words)
Another