Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Foreword
- Preface to the fourth edition
- Layout of the fourth edition
- Preface to the first edition
- Acknowledgements
- Part I Problem: the illness
- Part II Solution: symptomatic relief
- 4 Technology, changing language and authority
- 5 Guidelines to clearer writing
- 6 Spelling
- 7 Is there a better word?
- 8 Superfluous words
- 9 Imprecise words
- 10 Superfluous phrases
- 11 Trouble with short words
- 12 Use of the passive voice
- 13 Consistency: number and tenses
- 14 Word order
- 15 Punctuation
- 16 Circumlocution
- 17 Words and parts of speech for EAL writers
- 18 Clichés and article titles
- 19 Constructing sentences
- 20 Further help with sentences for EAL writers
- 21 Drawing clear graphs
- 22 It can be done
- Part III Practice: recuperation
- Appendix British–American English
- References and further reading
- Index
16 - Circumlocution
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 September 2014
- Frontmatter
- Dedication
- Epigraph
- Contents
- Foreword
- Preface to the fourth edition
- Layout of the fourth edition
- Preface to the first edition
- Acknowledgements
- Part I Problem: the illness
- Part II Solution: symptomatic relief
- 4 Technology, changing language and authority
- 5 Guidelines to clearer writing
- 6 Spelling
- 7 Is there a better word?
- 8 Superfluous words
- 9 Imprecise words
- 10 Superfluous phrases
- 11 Trouble with short words
- 12 Use of the passive voice
- 13 Consistency: number and tenses
- 14 Word order
- 15 Punctuation
- 16 Circumlocution
- 17 Words and parts of speech for EAL writers
- 18 Clichés and article titles
- 19 Constructing sentences
- 20 Further help with sentences for EAL writers
- 21 Drawing clear graphs
- 22 It can be done
- Part III Practice: recuperation
- Appendix British–American English
- References and further reading
- Index
Summary
It does not matter how clever a chap may be, or how earth-shattering his discovery – if he cannot convey it to others, in clear, lucid prose, he might just as well not have bothered.
(Anon. In England now. Lancet 1992; 339: 737. [We will excuse the sexism, just as we did for Popper, see p. 1.])This section has been titled Circumlocution since the first edition, for no reason other than it is a pleasing word, but is now a separate chapter. Edith Schwager’s similar section (see reference books) is titled Tautology, ‘rather than Redundancy, because any –ology sounds much more learned. However, we could have used Superfluity, Verbosity, Verbiage, Periphrasis, or Prolixity.’
Many circumlocutions in medical writing accompany or are the result of using the words and phrases listed earlier in this book, for example, may have the potential to meaning could. But there are many circumlocutions that will not be found by computer searches. They may be spotted by friends and colleagues if you ask them to read your draft, but you must ask them – sincerely – to be critical, and you must not then take offence if they are. Otherwise, the only way to spot circumlocutions is to go through your text carefully, asking yourself whether this word or that phrase is really necessary. (Is ‘really’ necessary?) After a while, you will become sensitive to unnecessary verbiage, and trimming will bring great satisfaction. Expressing a message more succinctly is useful not just for good style, but also when there is a word limit – for instance when submitting abstracts. Shorter papers will endear you to editors. The current on-line advice from the journal Diabetologia advises that if your paper is not 25% shorter after the eradication process, which should include ‘any phrase you think particularly clever’, you go back and start again.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Medical WritingA Prescription for Clarity, pp. 252 - 257Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2014