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Words, Words And More Words!

Started by xSilverPhinx, January 04, 2017, 01:16:33 AM

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xSilverPhinx

Quote from: Bad Penny II on February 18, 2017, 03:28:38 PM
Quote from: xSilverPhinx on February 18, 2017, 02:30:35 PMyou're upside down all the time. Being in that position can cause people to do and say funny things.

It is known.

Just itching for an opportunity to say that, eh? :lol:
I am what survives if it's slain - Zack Hemsey


hermes2015

It is standard practice to use the passive voice when one writes a scientific paper for publication in a peer-reviewed journal. It sounds wooden to anyone who is not in the field, but it is not common to use the first person in scientific papers.
"Eventually everything connects - people, ideas, objects. The quality of the connections is the key to quality per se."
― Charles Eames

xSilverPhinx

Quote from: hermes2015 on February 19, 2017, 04:44:36 AM
It is standard practice to use the passive voice when one writes a scientific paper for publication in a peer-reviewed journal. It sounds wooden to anyone who is not in the field, but it is not common to use the first person in scientific papers.

That's old school scientific writing, I say. :grin: In reality it depends largely on the journal. Some now prefer that writers use the active voice more often (as it can be more concise and increase clarity), one of which is the high impact journal Nature:

QuoteNature journals prefer authors to write in the active voice ("we performed the experiment...") as experience has shown that readers find concepts and results to be conveyed more clearly if written directly.
Taken from:http://www.nature.com/authors/author_resources/how_write.html

I found a couple of links on the issue:

Passive Voice in Scientific Writing (Duke University) and How to Use Active Voice in the Sciences (University of Toronto).

I personally think passive voice still has a place in scientific writing, but sometimes it's just better to leave it out altogether.


I am what survives if it's slain - Zack Hemsey


hermes2015

Yes, but I find that in more experiment-oriented papers like chemistry and physics it is still rare to find the active voice when the details of experimental procedures that were followed are described. Not that I read that many scientific journals these days.
"Eventually everything connects - people, ideas, objects. The quality of the connections is the key to quality per se."
― Charles Eames

Dave

#19
I found it very strange the first time I saw a archaeological paper, by a single author, using phrases like, "I concluded that." On asking the author about it he said that it showed willingness to personally "own" the findings - bloopers and all!
Tomorrow is precious, don't ruin it by fouling up today.
Passed Monday 10th Dec 2018 age 74

xSilverPhinx

Quote from: hermes2015 on February 19, 2017, 06:53:44 AM
Yes, but I find that in more experiment-oriented papers like chemistry and physics it is still rare to find the active voice when the details of experimental procedures that were followed are described. Not that I read that many scientific journals these days.

I don't ever read chemistry or physics papers, but it seems those 'rules', if they ever were rules, are becoming slightly more lax, at least in the fields of biological sciences. Even so, passive voice still is a more common occurrence in the methodological section.  :smilenod:

I am what survives if it's slain - Zack Hemsey


xSilverPhinx

Quote from: Gloucester on February 19, 2017, 08:18:36 AM
I found it very strange the first time I saw a archaeological paper, by a single author, using phrases like, "I concluded that." On asking the author about it he said that it showed willingness to personally "own" the findings - bloopers and all!

:golfclap:

That's an interesting way of looking at it and not distance oneself from one's own findings.
I am what survives if it's slain - Zack Hemsey


Dave

Quote from: xSilverPhinx on February 19, 2017, 06:24:26 PM
Quote from: Gloucester on February 19, 2017, 06:00:09 PM
Quote from: Harmonie on February 19, 2017, 05:35:08 PM
That's soooo lame.
American English seems to be drifting away from the core even faster than Australian! But then, it started off based on the 17th C version . . .

Linguistic speciation!

[Dragged in from the weather thread.]

Bit late with that theory, sPX!

Started splitting doon (historically) after it escaped from somewhere around India/Afghanistan a very long time ago.

How close is Brazilian Portuguese to its home roots?

My "prep for uni adult entry course" research project was "English as a global language", from it's origins through its spread and its borowings plus its use in science, aviation etc. (And how much the French hate that!!) Not a huge project, they were more interested in citations, research methods, analysis , presentation etc. Enjoyed that.
Tomorrow is precious, don't ruin it by fouling up today.
Passed Monday 10th Dec 2018 age 74

xSilverPhinx

#23
Quote from: Gloucester on February 19, 2017, 07:22:53 PM
How close is Brazilian Portuguese to its home roots?

European Portuguese or Vulgar Latin? I don't speak Latin in any form so I can't say, but Brazilian Portuguese has diverged from European Portuguese more than American has from British English. Not just in spelling and lexicon but grammar and phonetics as well.

For instance Brazil ação do elétron  Portugal acção do electrão.

In Brazil we add vowels, even where there aren't any, in Portugal they eliminate some of them when pronouncing words. So much to say, so little time...

We use the gerund, they have infinitives preceded by prepositions. Really weird sentence structure.
Brazil Estou teclando (I am typing) Portugal Estou a teclar (I am...to type?!). 

:wtf:

We place the oblique case in the beginning of a sentence, them, after the verb.
Brazil Me dá algo. Portugal Dá-me algo

Brazilian Portuguese has incorporated a lot of indigenous words into its vocabulary, which are absent in the European variety.



They speak funny.  :sidesmile:
I am what survives if it's slain - Zack Hemsey


xSilverPhinx

#24
Ok, I need help remembering a word for when a disease...um...starts. My mind went totally blank, it's back there somewhere, but I just can't access the thought. :scratch:

Argh!

In Portuguese the literal translation would be "installation of a disease" (yep) but that's not it. 

Edited to add: I think I've got it! Onset?

I am what survives if it's slain - Zack Hemsey


Dave

Quote from: xSilverPhinx on February 20, 2017, 01:50:10 PM
Ok, I need help remembering a word for when a disease...um...starts. My mind went totally blank, it's back there somewhere, but I just can't access the thought. :scratch:

Argh!

In Portuguese the literal translation would be "installation of a disease" (yep) but that's not it. 

Edited to add: I think I've got it! Onset?

Looks, and sounds, good!

Tomorrow is precious, don't ruin it by fouling up today.
Passed Monday 10th Dec 2018 age 74

xSilverPhinx

Quote from: Gloucester on February 20, 2017, 02:47:42 PM
Quote from: xSilverPhinx on February 20, 2017, 01:50:10 PM
Ok, I need help remembering a word for when a disease...um...starts. My mind went totally blank, it's back there somewhere, but I just can't access the thought. :scratch:

Argh!

In Portuguese the literal translation would be "installation of a disease" (yep) but that's not it. 

Edited to add: I think I've got it! Onset?

Looks, and sounds, good!

:dance:
I am what survives if it's slain - Zack Hemsey


Dave

More words on the "I" attribution:

QuoteIn recent studies of moral judgment, psychologists analyze the moral mind from the perspectives of Kantian reasoning, Humean emotion, or Rawlsian principle and identify diverse processes of moral cognition. [...] In his chapter, I develop a moral psychology of the body [...]
[My bold]

Not, "In this chapter a moral psychology of the body is developed [...]"

I still have to admit that I am getting used to this usage, no matter how ethical it seems!

Source
Tomorrow is precious, don't ruin it by fouling up today.
Passed Monday 10th Dec 2018 age 74

xSilverPhinx

I guess it does get some getting used to. :lol:
I am what survives if it's slain - Zack Hemsey


Biggus Dickus

This is the top definition of "It Is Known" on the Urban Dictionary.

TOP DEFINITION   
It is known.
an expression indicating that a given idea is based more on superstition or outright bullshit than on fact \ derived from dialogue in TV series "Game of Thrones"
Global warming is naturally caused by the Sun - just as the Moon is a goddess and the Sun's wife; it is known.
#falsehood #superstition #myth #hyperbole #misrepresentation
:o
"Some people just need a high-five. In the face. With a chair."