What common redundancies and tautologies exist in academic English?

Английский язык.  Язык политики

 English Language. The Language of Politics.

(English Language for the students of “International Relations” Department)

                                

                                          Ask not what your country can do for you-

                                        Ask what you can do for your country.

                                                                                  John F. Kennedy

                                     English is the language the sun never sets on.

                                                                                 Randolph Quirk

Task1:

 

 Give answers to the following questionnaire. If you say “yes” to the first question give as much information as you can dealing with the second half. Compare your answers with these of your classmates.

1. Do you have any English-speaking friends? Where from?

2. Do you know any nice places for meeting English –speaking people? Where?

3. Have you ever written a letter to someone in English? Who to? Why?

4. Have you ever been to an English-speaking country? Which one? When?

5. Have you seen a film in English this year? Which one?

6. Have you read a book, a magazine or a newspaper in English this year? Which one?

7. Have you seen a TV program in English this year? Which one?

8 Have you got a favorite song in English? Which one?

9. Why are you learning English?

10. What do you like about learning English?

11. What do you dislike about learning English?

 

Unit 1.

Some steps to improving your academic and political writing

 

                    Enriching your vocabulary.

 

                        Those who do not learn from history are doomed to repeat it”

                                                                                           George Santayana

 

A. Reflection

Look at the following groups of words, which are considered synonyms.

 

What is the difference between the words in each group?

 

1. colleague; mate; acquaintance; comrade; ally

2. handicapped; crippled; person with a disability; disabled; differently abled

3. sick; under the weather; ailing; nauseous

 

B. Contextualization

 Read through these sentences, each of which includes a synonym for the word research.

In each case, identify the problem with the synonym the student has chosen.

 

Sentence                                                                   

 

Stoddart’s investigation into the matter was extremely thorough.

 

Problem/ Reason ………………………………………………….

 

The 2004 forensic analysis by Sowton is considered the first major paper on the subject.

 

Problem/Reason …………………………………………………………

 

Her legwork into this topic is extremely detailed and accurate.

 

Problem/Reason ………………………………………………………….

 

The seek was generously well – received, although some criticize its methodology.

 

Problem/Reason …………………………………………………………………

 

It was an extremely successful piece of study which sent shockwaves through the establishment.

 

Problem/Reason …………………………………………………………………

 

Thein’s exploration of the topic was particularly interesting.

 

Problem/Reason ………………………………………………………………….

 

 

What strategies can increase your range of language?  

 

Strategy1: Using synonyms. “Synonym does not mean ‘having exactly the same meaning’ but ‘having a similar meaning’. This difference is extremely important. Although words may have the same denotation (core meaning)    they will almost certainly have a different connotation (secondary, suggested or implied meaning) For example all these words have the same denotation, i.e., friend, but the connotation is very different:

-colleague: ‘someone who you work with’

-male: informal term for ‘friend’

-acquaintance: ‘someone you have met (often a “friend of a friend”) but do not know that well

-comrade: ‘a member of he same communist or socialist political party; fellow-soldier’

-ally:  ‘a country that has agreed to help another country, especially in a war; a person who supports someone in a difficult situating, especially a politician’ 

 

A similar pattern may be seen for the other synonyms. When deciding how similar one word is to another, there are four criteria which should be considered.

1. Context: when and with whom you would use the word, e.g., is it a word in general use or is it a piece of jargon.

Investigation: suggests a piece of work done by the police

2. Formality: is he word formal or informal?

Legwork: this is quite informal and more appropriate in a spoken context.

Forensic analysis: conversely, this is too formal for the context.

3. Value judgment: does the word have any bias or additional meaning (e.g., criticism)?

Exploration: whereas research is a neutral word, exploration is more positive in tone.

4. Collocation: are there any particular words which go together to consider?

Piece of study: although study and research have the same meanings, study does not collocate with piece of.

In addition, a common mistake is to substitute a word with one from the wrong word class. Research, for example, is both a noun and a verb.

 

What resources can help you acquire new language?

 

English-only dictionary

Advantages: Reading the definition of a word in context (and in the target language), makes it more likely to be remembered in future.

Disadvantages: Definitions can be difficult to understand; it is not always clear what you need to look up.

 

Electronic/online dictionaries

  Advantages: They are quick and easy to use

Disadvantages: Students can become over reliant on them. They may also simply insert the longest/most complicated word they find, rather than the word which is most appropriate.

 

Online corpora

Advantages: Can help you to see if the word is commonly used in academic or political English.

Disadvantages: Can be challenging to use if you are unfamiliar with them.

 

Activation

Using some of the strategies, rewrite the following passage using less repetition of the same language

  Reusing identical language in academic writing is considered bad style by most academics. Reading identical language gives the impression that your knowledge of subject is also poor, whereas you might actually know quite a lot. A range of language will make your academic writing sound more professional and interesting.

 

 

How can you avoid using vague and unnecessary words?

                                                                  “ Good prose is like a window pane”

                                                                                                    George Orwell

 

Reflection

Look at these statements and decide if you agree or disagree.

 

1 I think that longer phrases sound more ‘academic’.

2. I use lots of extra words in order to reach the word count.

 3. I often translate phrases into English word-for-word.

4. Sometimes I do not know the word I need, so I use a vague word instead (e.g., thing).

 

Contextualization

Read through the following passage and underline any language you think is vague or unnecessary.

Rewrite the passage accordingly

 

Thus, with regard to introduction, the general consensus of opinion is that a number of factors have to be concluded. Questions still remain, as to what the appropriate length of an introduction should be. Yet, taking all this into account, despite the fact that students are often able to use language well, until such a point in time as they are able to avoid using an excessive number of words, they will in no way be able to write good introduction.

 

Thus, regarding introductions

 

 

 

What common redundancies and tautologies exist in academic English?