Convoluted academic language is OK for the initiated,but the rest of us need plain English, says Michael McCarthyThe broadcaster James Naughtie said recently on the BBC's nowadays programme, or during a discussion about grammar,that academic prose frequently contained "pieces of English which are frightful. They may adhere to rules, but they're unreadable." We can be sure that Naughtie is not alone in this insight that academics often abuse the language. What can it be that he perceives as tainted?The grammar of academic English is allotment of English grammar as a whole. There are no special structures that are unique to academic English and never found elsewhere. But there are things academics treasure to do that are less common in other types of writing. Using the passive voice is one. Case studies are recorded, or data are analysed,concepts are defined, all by an invisible agent, or usually the author,who seems to prefer to take a back seat in the sentence structure. "I analysed the data", "I defined this concept" can sound too much "in your face", or not academic enough. But we would surely not want to sentence such conventional modesty as tainted English.
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Source: theguardian.com