Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

What are alternatives to "is that" as in "[something] is that [something]"?

+0
−0

I am writing a thesis and I frequently find my self using the phrase 'is that'.

For example: "The other feature that has been neglected is that the expert system would ..."

I have been told that this is ugly.

What are some alternatives?

History
Why does this post require moderator attention?
You might want to add some details to your flag.
Why should this post be closed?

This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/q/36219. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

0 comment threads

2 answers

+1
−0

It might help if you try always to look for an active verb, and an active way of phrasing your statements. "Be" verbs (is, are) lie flat and motionless.

"The problem with this approach is that...." is a weak way to start identifying a problem. Instead, try an active verb -- don't just say 'this is a problem" but "this thing does something (which is obviously a problem)."

"The approach (fails, misses, lacks, hurts, ignores, minimizes)" and so on.

As mentioned by others, also, the use of "is that" is awkward (ungrammatical?) in your example.

"The other feature that has been neglected is [X feature]..."

NOT

"The other feature that has been neglected is that [there is a feature named X]

In other words, basic recasting of your sentences can eliminate "is that" in most cases.

History
Why does this post require moderator attention?
You might want to add some details to your flag.

This post was sourced from https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/37748. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.

0 comment threads

+0
−0

The alternative is to stop listening to people who say silly things like that.

There is, unfortunately, a sub-culture of writers who obsess over the minutia of prose without having any actually stylistic skill. This means that come up with a collection of vacuous rules, and one of the most vacuous of these is a suspicion of any form of repetition. If they can find the same course of three words three times on the same page the are instantly aroused, like a pointer who detects the smell of game.

The only place in which concerns could be legitimate at all is in literature. For the most part they don't apply in literature because they are just simply wrong, the product of people trying to do by simple rules what can only be achieved by mature taste.

In academic and technical writing, your overwhelming obligation is to be clear. The use of "is that" in the sentence, "The other feature that has been neglected is that the expert system would ..." is clear. That is all the virtue that it needs to justify its use.

Trying to come up will alternative is quite likely to make your prose less clear, which is the cardinal sin of academic and technical writing. Familiarity and repetition are important component of clarity. Saying the same thing the same way is an important aid to clarity. Rather than trying to introduce variation here, you should be trying to eliminate it.

Variety may have a role to play in art; consistency is fundamental to commerce, engineering, and academic study.

History
Why does this post require moderator attention?
You might want to add some details to your flag.

0 comment threads

Sign up to answer this question »