WRT333-Section 1: Scientific and Technical Writing
Difficult Words, Latinisms, Redundancy
Week 4
(Syllabus)
Longer, more abstract words take even highly intelligent readers longer to decode. Words referring to concrete things or actions are more familiar and faster to grasp. Help the audience with familiar frames of reference.
- The Central Processing Unit, or CPU, was an electonic microchip that was the brain of the computer, keeping track of numbers and logical relations like an accountant on speed.
Latinisms English is a hybrid language, with both Latin and Anglo-Saxon parents, often giving us a wide variety of ways to say things. When the Latin form is more abstract, longer, or harder to understand (often), consider the simpler Anglo-Saxon vesion.
| Latinate | Anglo-Saxon |
|---|---|
| interrogate | question or ask |
| aggregate | collect |
| utilize | use |
| utilization | use |
| terminate | end |
| promulgate | announce or publish |
| initiate | start |
Redundancies Overuse of Latinate words is often accompanied by redundancy, as both tend to sound very official. Learn to spot pretensious, overblown phrases. Prefer the simple.
| Avoid | Prefer |
|---|---|
| a considerable number of | many |
| a majority of | most |
| in order to | to |
| oftentimes | often |
| general consensus of opinion | consensus |
| at that point in time | then |
| extraordinarily unique | unique |
| in the not-too-distant future | soon |
| it is suggested that | I think |
| needless to say | leave out, and leave out what follows |