Page 340 - English - Teaching Academic Esl Writing

326 CHAPTER 12 knows, informal and conversational hedges may simply not be acceptable in
lieu of factual rhetorical support.
AVOIDING OVERSTATEMENTS, EXAGGERATIONS, AND EMPHATIC CLAIMS
A large class of adjectives and adverbs have the function of marking exag- gerations and overstatements by inflating the value, truthfulness, or impor- tance of information (Quirk et al., 1985; see also chap. 6 on indefinite pronouns). In this class, the adjectives usually modify nouns (a significant work), and adverbs increase the intensity of adjectives, other adverbs, and whole sentences (/ definitely/totally agree with this statement). For instance, in academic writing in English, such extreme adverbs of frequency as always and never are often seen as inappropriate, and their inclusion in essays is not recommended (Smoke, 1999):
Managers always think that if employees are paid well, they will do their best on the job. (From a student text.)
Exaggerative and emphatic adjectives and adverbs are prevalent in the conversational rather than formal written register and are often considered informal (Chafe, 1985). However, Hyland's (1998, 1999) corpus analyses of published academic articles show that the use of emphatics is comparatively more frequent in such diverse disciplines as philosophy, sociology, market- ing, applied linguistics, physics, or mechanical engineering than biology and electrical engineering.
Exaggerations and overstatements often include numerous adjectives and adverbs commonly found in L2 writers' texts (Hinkel, 2002a).
Conversational Exaggeratives and Emphatics (Unfortunately) Frequent in L2 Academic Text
absolute(-ly)
a lot (+ noun/adjective) always
amazing(-ly)
awful(-ly)
bad (-ly)
by all means
certain(-ly)
dear(-ly)
complete(-ly)
ever exact(-ly) extreme(-ly)
far (+ comparative forever
for sure
fully
great(-ly) high(-ly) huge(-ly)
adjective)
perfect(-ly) pure(-ly)
severe (-ly)
50 (+adjective/verb) strong(-ly)
sure(-ly)
terrible(-ly)
too (+ adjective) total(-ly)
unbelievable (-ly)
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