Author_Institution :
McDonnell Douglas Corp., St. Louis, MO, USA
Abstract :
Pretentious, wordy writing occurs because written English is different from spoken English and because writers have developed bad habits. Four specific varieties of verbal pollution are (1) the smothered verb, (2) the freight-train adjectival phrase, (3) the indiscriminate use of jargon, and (4) the habitual hedge. Once their causes and symptoms are understood, these faults are easy to detect and eliminate.
Keywords :
technical presentation; adjectival phrase; smothered verb; spoken English; technical presentation; verbal pollution; written English;
Journal_Title :
Professional Communication, IEEE Transactions on
DOI :
10.1109/TPC.1979.6501742
