
Chemistry
06. Avoiding muddled phrasing
The best way to make sure that your meaning is clear is to keep your sentences short. In short sentences, phrasing is much less likely to be muddled.
Compare
- The fuel cell, developed through NASA's research, saw the first proton exchange membrane developed and Willard Thomas Grubb modified the fuel cell design to use a sulphonated polystyrene ion-exchange membrane as the electrolyte, working at General Electric in 1955, with three years later Leonard Niedrach working out how to deposit a platinum catalyst onto this membrane and it was this fuel cell that NASA used on its Gemini mission.
with
- The fuel cell, developed through NASA's research, saw the first proton exchange membrane developed. in 1955, Willard Thomas Grubb, working at General Electric, modified the fuel cell design to use a sulphonated polystyrene ion-exchange membrane as the electrolyte. Three years later, Leonard Niedrach worked out how to deposit a platinum catalyst onto this membrane. It was this fuel cell that NASA used on its Gemini mission.
N.B.
- The best sentences often contain only one thought or piece of information.
- If you have more than one sub-clause in a sentence, see if the sentence is better divided into two.
Compare
- The experiment was conducted by an chemist in fourth year, which amazed everybody.
- The experiment, which amazed everybody, was conducted by a chemist in fourth year.
In the second example, the amazement is directed at the experiment.
To make sure what you've written is clear, and also exactly what you mean, write down what you're trying to say in the simplest possible way. Every time your marker has to write a ? or ‘explain’ in the margin, your work loses value.
Task | Task Type | Difficulty |
---|---|---|
Task 1 | Free text | Moderate |
Task 2 | Free text | More Challenging |
Task 3 | Free text | Easier |
Task 4 | Free text | Moderate |
Task 5 | Free text | More Challenging |
Task 6 | Free text | Moderate |
Task 7 | Free text | Easier |
Task 8 | Free text | Moderate |