Why do many English-learners make sentences and phrases more complicated than they need to be?

Дата публикации: Dec 17, 2016 7:19:53 AM

Lee McAuliffe Rambo, Writer, editor, online English tutor and writing coach

Written Jul 1, 2015 · Upvoted by Heather Jedrus, speech-language pathologist.

I've been teaching English to non-native speakers for more than 30 years, so I'm very familiar with this problem.

There are two interconnected reasons, I think:

1) A belief, acquired from their traditional schooling, that complexity -- long words, long sentences, arcane words -- is a sign of intelligence, education and sophistication. Most educational systems throughout the world teach that communication is for impressing others, not expressing oneself.

2) A failure to understand that good written English does not have the same characteristics as good Spanish, French, Croatian or what have you. Regrettably, languages are taught as if they are equivalencies: One need only memorize the new vocabulary and plug it in. (This approach explains why some self-styled experts on Quora refer to "the formula" for constructions such as verb-preposition combinations.) In fact, every language is an organic whole and mastering it requires an understanding of its ideal attributes.

Accomplished writers of English aim for brevity, precision and vigor. The following are good guidelines.

· Short is better than long.

· Simple is good.

· Avoid long, Latin-based nouns.

· Embrace active verbs.

В связи с этим вопрос: почему на экзамене CAE нужно демонстрировать сложную лексику и грамматику в речи и в письме?

see CAE. General