Word Choice: Use one word to replace a phrase
“Don’t use a five-dollar word when a fifty-cent word will do.”
— Mark Twain
Clichés and circumlocution are overused nowadays in writing research manuscripts. It is a bane to good writing and for effective communication of the contents in the manuscript. It is time to avoid them and, use diminutive word than a phrase while writing manuscripts.
Using scientific terms is the prerogative of the researcher. So are the words of the English language for writing scientific manuscripts. Writing gives freedom for the author to choose the words. It is up to the author of manuscripts to choose the right word or not. Instead of long or short phrases, it is better to choose one word which will effectively communicate the meaning. The following questions are critical to know before using a cliché or circumlocution:
- How to arrange the chosen words into sentences and paragraphs?
- Is this really what I mean?
- Will the reader able to understand it without any difficulty?
- Does it sound good?
Most of the manuscript writers end up with words like ‘vague’, ‘wordy’ ‘awkward’ and others from their instructors on their draft. It is due to the wrong choice of words by the writer of the manuscript. To avoid such kind of embarrassing situations the following strategies might be of help for writing a simple and effective manuscript.
Finding the right words is a challenging task:
Always have in mind that word choice is a challenging task even for seasoned writers. Hence the word choice should be made in all stages of writing. It should while writing the manuscript in the first place, then while editing it and finally while evaluating it. Stage by stage, the manuscript gets refined as much as a pebble to shine better with the right word choice.
It is easy to write a fresh sentence than save a word in manuscript:
While editing or rewriting the manuscript, it is a daunting task to save a word. It is far tougher than writing a fresh sentence. The best solution is to have no attachment to any particular word or the sentences already written. Be always ready to rewrite any sentence or word that does not fit into the context of the manuscript.
Take a reader’s point of view:
Take a readers’ point of view when the instructor returns the manuscript draft. It will help to know the errors without any prejudice. The mistakes in grammar and other issues could be understood crystal clear for further revision of the draft to make it a successful scientific manuscript. The errors may include:
- Misused words- the words that don’t mean what the writer thinks. E.g. Usage, Use – these words are not real synonyms. ‘Use’ refers to the condition of being used (e.g. fertilizer use’) whereas ‘usage’ refers mostly to the conventions of a language (e.g. English Usage),
- Words with unnecessary meanings or connotations. E.g., The surrounding environment; environment already means ‘circumstances surrounding”, so there is no need for another “surrounding”.
- Wrong use of pronouns that confuse readers’ of whom it refers to
- Jargon or other technical terms which make the readers work hard to read the manuscript
- Loaded language by writers relying on certain words and using it often while writing without explaining what it is
- Clichés- Clichés are catchy phrases which are now overused and become more of a burden than being useful. It is better to identify them and use an alternative single word of the same meaning.
The above strategies will help the authors for the right word choice and to avoid clichés and circumlocution for successful scientific manuscripts.