-1

Recently I observed that there are too many introductory phrases in papers writen by non-native spearkers. Here are some examples:

  • Typically, it is xxxx
  • Particularly, it is xxxx
  • In this paper, we propose xxxx
  • Based on this, we find that xxxx
  • Therefore, we xxxx
  • Among previous works, xxxx
  • Similar to xxxx, our method xxxx
  • As with xxxx, our method xxxx
  • Inspired by this, we xxxx
  • Following previous approach, our method xxxx
  • As shown in Figure. 5, our xxxx
  • Different from previous approaches, our xxxx
  • For the input, it adopts xxxx
  • In terms of xxxx, it
  • First, xxxx. Then, xxxx

Here are my questions:

  • Do native speakers feel strange using too many introductory phrases in academic writing? Is there a better solution than using these introductory phrases?
  • Besides, are the commas necessary?
Laurel
  • 66,382
Ming Wang
  • 157
  • 1
    'Recently I observed that there are too many introductory phrases in papers' means that anyone who doesn't agree with this view will have to say they think it's an incorrect premise. Answers will be opinion-based; my opinion is that introductory elements (including introductory phrases) are often a good way of structuring sentences. – Edwin Ashworth May 13 '22 at 15:57
  • 1
    As already stated in Ms. Bunting's answer, there is nothing wrong with what you call 'introductory phrases'. Most of them are, in fact, transitions, which good writing requires. Of course, like anything else in the language, they can be used wrongly, and it is possible that your encountering their misuse is what prompted the question. Such misuse would, however, have to be evaluated on a case-by-case basis. – jsw29 May 13 '22 at 20:44

1 Answers1

2

"Do native speakers feel strange?" No, we don't. The introductory phrase means what it says and different ones are appropriate in different contexts. For instance typically means that the examples that follow are the kind of thing that often happens. I don't know why you think that people use 'too many' of them.

Yes, it is appropriate to follow such a phrase with a comma.

Kate Bunting
  • 25,480