3 Practice A
In the following sentences, underline examples of bad style and rewrite them in a
more suitable way.
(a) What was the biggest thing that made Lehman Brothers collapse?
(b) Unfortunately, I think there’s a good chance of inflation increasing.
(c) Lots of people think that the economy is getting worse.
(d) A few years ago the price of property in Japan went down a lot.
(e) You can’t always trust the numbers in that report.
(f) Sadly, the German inflation led to poverty, social unrest and so on.
(g) They sacked the boss for cooking the books.
(h) These days lots of people don’t have jobs.
4 Avoiding repetition and redundancy
Instead of repeating the same word in a short text:
Most family businesses employ less than ten people. These businesses...Try to make the text more interesting by using synonyms:
Most family businesses employ less than ten people. These firms...See Unit 3.9 Synonyms
Redundancy (i.e. repeating an idea or including an irrelevant point) suggests that the writer
is not fully in control of the material. It gives the impression that either he/she does not properly
understand the language or is trying to ‘pad’ the essay by repeating the same point. Avoid
phrases such as:
Business schools in Spain are cheaper than business schools in the UK.Good writing aims for economy and precision:
Business schools in Spain are cheaper than in the UK.144 Part 2: Elements of Writing