Slovene Association for the Study of English

Language/Writing Tip 6

This funny-sounding combination pops up occasionally:
“As a future author, young Hemingway was an avid reader.”
or
“In her efforts to improve her writing, elderly Munro turned to the spellcheck.”
“young Hemingway” and “elderly Munro” sound dismissive.
More neutral: “the young Hemingway” and “the elderly Munro.”

Note:

All tips for this year, as well as diploma thesis advice, are available at:

http://www2.arnes.si/~bjason/LW%20tips.pdf

You might also want to ponder:

http://www2.arnes.si/~bjason/LNW.pdf

I have lately had the un-pleasure of proofreading a number of academic articles.
I have come to hate the phrase “to shed some light on…”

A few examples:

a) “This paper aims to shed some light on immigration.”
b) “This paper strives to shed light on the movie industry.”
c) “This paper has as its purpose the shedding of light on academia.”

Dull, dull, dull. And we have to read on to figure out what the paper is actually about.

Using the replacement-test, we arrive at: “By turning on the lamp, I aim to shed light on the room…” Silly-sounding, but no less circular than the above examples.

There may be arguments for using “shed light on.” Keep in mind, however, that:
1) the phrase is overused to the point of cliché.
2) if the noun after “shed light on” is vague, the sentence is hardly illuminating. a, b, and c, do not provide a thesis.
3) the combination “aims to” or “tries to” or “strives to” with “shed light on” is almost always laughable.
4) What is “some light”?

…if you are specific, the phrase “to shed light on” is tolerable:

“This paper aims to shed light on the use of Form T-29a in regulating immigration.”
“This paper strives to shed light on the use of professional Slovenian soccer players in the movie industry.”