Reducing a sentence, clause or phrase to a shorter unit

Secondary information written as a sentence of its own, as a clause or as a string of phrases can be reduced to a shorter syntactic unit and placed beside the information it belongs to. A sentence folds into its neighbour by coordination, modification or apposition, and inside a sentence a clause, a run of modifiers, a repeated word or an absolute phrase is cut down to a shorter unit.

Folding a secondary sentence into its neighbour

Inter-sentence incrementalism is the expansion of information, often secondary information, into a sentence of its own instead of its reduction to a clause or phrase and its incorporation into a contiguous sentence, which is sentence combining. ¹ Such incrementalism may be a consequence of the advice to express ideas as a series of short sentences to avoid grammatical mistakes. ¹ There is wisdom to that advice, but the expansion conveys a non-professional tone and seems tedious and simplistic to an expert in the discipline, who expects the focused interrelation of thought that sentence combining can achieve. ¹ The reduced structure is incorporated into the contiguous sentence by coordination, modification or apposition. ^{1, 2} Focused paragraphs can be written by reducing sentences in this way: information expressed incrementally across sentences can be placed next to the information it pertains to, which achieves succinctness and clarity. ²

Coordination

Coordination uses three reduced structures: the independent clause of a compound sentence, the noun clause and the noun phrase. ^{3, 4} The independent clause of a compound sentence is the least dramatic reduction in hierarchical syntax, from two sentences into one compound sentence separated by a semicolon or a comma. ⁵ An MT-like protein was present in this polychaete. However, amino acid analysis is necessary for confirmation. becomes the same two clauses joined by a semicolon, or by a comma and but. ^{6, 7, 8} What coordinating two sentences into a compound sentence gains is information relatedness: the separate sentences emphasise their individual importance, and combining them bridges their relatedness. ⁵ The clauses joined by a semicolon are more visually and cognitively integrated than the separate sentences, and those joined by a comma seem more interrelated still, because a comma is a weaker border marker than a semicolon. ⁵ A sentence conveying a contrast may be more effective as the independent clause of a compound sentence. ⁵

The second is the noun clause. ⁴ The results of the proposed study are important for understanding how joint pressure affects the physiology and pathology of the TMJ. This study will also indicate the effect of mandibular position on mandibular growth. becomes The results of the proposed study are important for understanding how joint pressure affects the physiology and pathology of the TMJ and how mandibular position affects mandibular growth, with two coordinated noun clauses as objects of the preposition-gerund for understanding. ^{9, 10, 11} There are cues that justify combining, and the repeated this study is one: it shows that the two sentences emphasise the study at the expense of what was to be accomplished. ¹¹ Coordinating the potential accomplishments makes them equivalent in importance, whereas the second sentence reads as a tag-on of lesser importance than the joint pressure. ¹¹

The third is the noun phrase. ⁴ Then, the participants were instructed to perform two instructed practice trials. Afterward, they had 2 minutes' rest. Finally, they performed three test trials. becomes The sequence for the participants was two instructed practice trials, 2 minutes' rest, and three test trials. ^{12, 13} The three successive time-focused transitions are just too story-like, and their repetition emphasises the time at the expense of the conceptual components. ¹⁴ Beneath them, the incremental sequence of subjects and actions across the three sentences is narrative too. ¹⁴ The revision expresses the whole sequence of actions as a descriptive coordinated listing. ¹⁴ A narrative pattern is informal compared with a descriptive format, which has a thematic topic instead of an agent as its subject and a linking verb instead of an action verb as its predicate. ¹⁴ Likewise, Previous studies were based on small sample size. And interviews were delayed ~16 years after term. becomes Previous studies were based on small sample size and delayed interviews (~16 years after term), the second sentence reduced to the noun phrase delayed interviews and coordinated with the object small sample size. ^{15, 16} The separate second sentence emphasises the delayed interviews at the expense of the sample size, so that the sentences that follow seem to concern the interviews, whereas coordination makes both coordinate causes of the research problem. ¹⁶ Parenthesising the adverbial appositive noun phrase ~16 years after term reduces it further, mainly visually. ¹⁶

Modification

Modification reduces a sentence to a unit whose structure matches the function of the information better than a full sentence does, and it uses four reduced units: the noun phrase, the infinitive phrase, the prepositional phrase and the elliptical adverb clause. ¹⁷ A sentence that describes a noun in a preceding sentence may be better matched to its relative importance as a dependent adjective clause. ¹⁸ In the dental mesenchyme, Msx-1 is required for induction of syndecan-1 expression by BMP-4. BMP-4 is also a downstream target of Msx-1. can become a complex sentence with the adjective clause which is also a downstream target of Msx-1, but that is no more concise, since the second sentence and the adjective clause both contain eight words. ^{19, 20, 18} Reducing it further to the appositive noun phrase a downstream target of Msx-1, of five words, keeps the thematic focus on Msx-1. ^{21, 18} The adjective clause is somewhat emphasised by its length and end position. ¹⁸

An infinitive phrase succinctly conveys an objective. ²² A robust delay fault simulation was performed. The purpose of this simulation was to identify robust testing paths. becomes A robust delay fault simulation was performed to identify robust-testing paths, which makes the redundant, syntactically over-emphasised and incrementalised the purpose of this simulation was unnecessary. ^{23, 24, 22}

In The resulting homogenate was then centrifuged (5 min, 4°C). Next, the gels were incubated in buffer containing 5 mM CaCl2. the incrementalism is more rhetorically matched to laboratory instructions than to the descriptive format of a journal article's Materials and Methods section. ^{25, 26} Sentence combining lessens it by de-emphasising the first sentence, first as the dependent adverb clause After the resulting homogenate was centrifuged and then further as the prepositional phrase After homogenate centrifugation. ^{27, 28, 26} The further revision is justified by the narrativism and by the superfluous the resulting. ²⁶

In The actual cause for decreased collagen hydroxylation is conjecture. However, the strong correlation between decreased hydroxylation and the degree of hyperglycaemia is consistent with a glucose-mediated effect. the second independent clause merits the emphasis. ^{29, 30} So the first is reduced to the adverb clause Although the actual cause for decreased collagen hydroxylation is conjecture and then to the elliptical Although conjecture. ^{31, 32, 30}

Apposition

Apposition reduces a sentence expressing secondary information that could be in apposition to information in a contiguous sentence, to a noun phrase or to listed noun phrases. ³³ An example of a pseudoword is shalt. is attenuated into the embeddable appositive shalt of the contiguous sentence, so that the experimenter pronounces a pseudoword (e.g., shalt). ^{34, 2, 35} This is a prototypic example of syntactic reduction, in which secondary information, an example, becomes a noun phrase instead of being over-emphasised incrementally as a sentence. ³⁵ A sample of 100 pre- and post-treatment patient records were examined from one orthodontic office in Yorba Linda, CA. Patient records consisted of study models, panoramic radiographs, intra- and extra-oral photos, and detailed medical histories. becomes From one orthodontic office (in Yorba Linda, CA), examined patient records consisted of study models, panoramic radiographs, intra- and extra-oral photos, and detailed medical histories. ^{36, 37} The repetition of patient records in the second sentence is the cue that justifies combining. ³⁸ The passive verb phrase were examined is reduced to the past participle examined, which enables the phrasal verb consisted of from the second sentence to be incorporated. ³⁸ Where the intended focus is the nerve cells prepared from the foetuses of pregnant rats, the strain, supplier and housing details of the rats are listed appositively and parenthesised: Nerve cells were prepared from the brains of embryonic day-18 foetuses of pregnant female rats (Sprague-Dawley; Simonsen Inc.; individually housed, standard cages; 21°C; 12 h light-dark cycle). ^{39, 40}

Clauses that can be phrases

Circumlocution is the use of a multiword structure where a shorter syntactic unit would do, such as a clause in place of a phrase, and it can distract by disrupting the sentence pattern and by unintentionally over-emphasising less important information. ⁴¹ Adjective, adverb and noun clauses all distract by their length in this way. ⁴² Concision may be more typical of the experimental sections of a journal article, Materials and Methods and Results. ⁴²

In A CR was defined as any movement during the CS period of the nictitating membrane which was equal to or greater than 0.5 mm, deleting the relative pronoun which and the linking verb was gives the elliptical adjective clause equal to or greater than 0.5 mm. ^{43, 44, 45} Further concision is possible by converting it into a noun phrase and symbol, which is most pertinent next to movement: any movement (≥ 0.5 mm) during the CS period of the nictitating membrane. ^{46, 45} In the Materials and Methods section the objective is to convey multiple details as succinctly as possible, and to that end attenuated syntactic units and symbols prevail. ⁴⁵ In a Results sentence, deleting the relative pronoun which and the auxiliary verb was turns a severe adverse event which was judged to be treatment related into a severe adverse event judged to be treatment related. ^{47, 48, 49} The resulting participle is less emphasised by length than the unattenuated adjective clause. ⁴⁹

In A series of tests under conditions that were identical often yielded results that were different, deleting the relative pronoun that and the verb to be leaves the single adjectives identical and different, which are transposed to the attributive position in front of the noun they modify: A series of tests under identical conditions often yielded different results. ^{50, 51, 52} Besides circumlocution, syntactic number is a reason to attenuate here: repetition is more obvious between clauses than between words. ⁵²

In the Results section of a journal article an elliptical adverb clause is often used to convey the secondary information of where a table or figure is. ⁵³ In The performance error for non-adaptive and adaptive schedules decreased for all learning sessions as shown in Figure 1, the elliptical clause is unnecessarily emphasised by its length and end-of-sentence position, especially as the location of data is non-conceptual secondary information. ^{54, 53} Reducing it to the parenthesised noun phrase (Figure 1) de-emphasises it. ^{48, 53}

The over-emphasis a noun clause gets from its length is similar to that of an adjective clause, and it also results from a wordy narrative pattern focused on agents and actions. ^{52, 55} In The fact that the chemicals were impure possibly caused the delay, the noun clause is in apposition to the grammatical filler subject the fact. ^{56, 55} The revision, The chemical impurity possibly caused the delay, has four fewer words and more thematically focused information, which also minimises the delayed predication. ^{57, 55} Replacing the fact by the chemical impurity tests whether the fact is a filler. ⁵⁵ The test may apply to every word an appositive is in apposition to, and a word that is a filler is unnecessary. ⁵⁵ In The main characteristic of TCP-PR is that it detects packet loss only by timers without using duplicate acknowledgements, the narrative personal pronoun it and verb detects add to the length of the clause. ^{51, 55} So the clause can be revised into the conceptually descriptive noun phrase packet loss detection, as in The main characteristic of TCP-PR is packet loss detection only by timers without using duplicate acknowledgements. ^{52, 55} The reduction is only two words, but the change in conceptual emphasis is not small, and the backtracking from it is gone. ⁵⁵

To revise such circumlocution, adjective, adverb and noun clauses can be reduced to a noun phrase functioning as an adjectival or as an appositive, followed if necessary by transposition so that the modifier stands next to what it modifies. ⁴² The full clause may instead be appropriate to match the importance of the information. ⁴² This matching of syntactic structure to rhetorical intent is the essence of syntactical fluency. ⁴²

Strings of modifiers around a noun

Excessive post-noun modification, usually by adjectival prepositional phrases, occurs frequently in research writing, often after a noun that is itself the object of an adverbial prepositional phrase. ⁵⁸ Excessive pre-noun modification, or stacked modification, occurs less frequently and is less distracting. ⁵⁸ The rhetorical severity of excessive pre- and post-noun modification is dissonance and possibly impeded comprehension. ⁵⁹ Revision of excess pre-modifiers ranges from hyphenation, which visually makes them one unit, to transposition of a pre-modifier to a post-modifier. ⁵⁹ Revision of post-modifiers involves a variety of options: melding of tandem appositives, parenthesis or listing, both of which reduce a prepositional phrase to a noun phrase, or conversion into another syntactic unit such as an infinitive phrase. ⁵⁹

In Cells were washed twice with 1 x PBS and isolated by centrifugation for 6 minutes at 1600 rpm, the tandem post-noun prepositional phrases are details of centrifugation. ^{60, 61} Such secondary information can be demarcated from primary information by a parenthesised noun phrase, (6 min, 1600 rpm), and even the details of washing could be reduced to (1 x PBS). ^{58, 61} Deletion seems to prompt deletion: once the prepositions are deleted and the units abbreviated, isolated by centrifugation seems a circumlocution for simply centrifuged, which also makes the verbs parallel, were washed … and centrifuged. ⁶² In a sample of children with increased overjet (>7 mm), in mixed dentition, a year before peak pubertal growth, and without previous orthodontic treatment, the series of four prepositional phrases conveys primary information and is torturous to comprehend. ^{63, 64} A numerical listing of noun phrases as inclusion criteria facilitates comprehension, all the more when related criteria are combined, and it lets in mixed dentition go as self-evident for children of that age. ^{65, 64}

In an acceleration of protein synthesis and an increase of A1B uptake, the nouns acceleration and increase add to noun density and abstraction, and each needs a preposition beside it. ^{66, 67} Reducing the prepositional phrases to the adjectival past participles gives accelerated protein synthesis and increased A1B uptake. ^{68, 67} Merging them further to increased protein synthesis and A1B uptake deletes the preposition and the article, and the subtle distinction between accelerated and increased becomes unintended. ^{69, 67} Secondary examples, such as the genes expressed in the posterior and anterior parts of a feather bud, can be reduced from prepositional phrases to parenthesised noun phrases. ^{68, 67, 70} Two contiguous post-noun prepositional phrases can be melded into one by transposing the object of the second in front of the object of the first, so essential for the condensation of dental mesenchyme becomes essential for dental mesenchyme condensation. ^{71, 72, 73} The narrative and wordy tandem phrases with the intent of protecting the graft become the infinitive phrase to protect the graft. ^{74, 75, 76} The preposition to before it is then redundant with the infinitive marker to, which is resolved by moving the infinitive phrase to the start of the sentence. ^{70, 76, 77}

In Angiopoietin regulation of choroidal endothelial cell MM-P and MM-9 activities, the five pre-modifiers before activities impede comprehension. ^{78, 79} Transposing choroidal endothelial cells to a post-noun position, as Angiopoietin regulation of MM-P and MM-9 activities in choroidal endothelial cells, separates the type of activity from its location and balances the number of pre- and post-modifiers, a balance that enhances comprehension. ^{80, 79}

Repeated words

A repeated word becomes more distracting, and so redundant, in proportion to the number of repeats, whether it stands alone, as the definite articles in a title do, or as a constituent of a larger phrase or clause. ⁸¹ The rhetorical severity of repetition is a dissonance distraction. ⁸² The techniques that eliminate redundant words range from deleting articles in a title to a comparison transformed so that the compared entities come at the end of the sentence. ⁸² Perhaps the most interesting is melding contiguous infinitive phrases, or an infinitive and a prepositional phrase, to avoid the monotony of the infinitive marker to and the preposition to. ⁸²

Flaps were reflected to gain access to the osteotomy site repeats to because access is a nominalisation of the verb to access, which needs the perfunctory verbal to gain. ^{83, 84} Denominalised to to access, it lets the prepositional phrase to the osteotomy site be reduced to the noun phrase osteotomy site: flaps were reflected to access the osteotomy site. ^{85, 84} In In group I, there were 17 men and 23 women, whereas in group II there were 19 men and 21 women, the constituents of the adverb clause of comparison repeat those of the independent clause. ^{86, 87} In most comparisons the compared entities can be placed at the end of the sentence, with all other information before them, a transposition that gives thematic focus and end-of-sentence emphasis. ^{87, 88} Subsuming the numbers of men and women under each group shows a hierarchy between primary and secondary information, and such explicit hierarchical levels facilitate comprehension: The gender distribution was similar between group I (17 men, 23 women) and II (19 men, 21 women). ^{89, 88}

The indefinite article a can be redundant, as in nearly a half a million deaths. ^{90, 91} Removing either a gives a revision, nearly a half million or nearly half a million, but removing both would be ungrammatical. ^{90, 92, 91} Expressions such as half a million usually replace half of a million, the a standing for of a. ⁹¹ To is repeated when an adverbial prepositional phrase containing to is contiguous to an adverbial infinitive phrase, as in The non-elastic property of woven fabrics is applied to garments to achieve realistic visual effects. ^{93, 94} Moving the infinitive phrase to the start of the sentence distances the two instances of to and minimises the redundant repetition: To achieve realistic visual effects, the non-elastic property of woven fabrics is applied to garments. ^{95, 94} In Mature Mde's interact with T-cells and activate them, the two transitive verbs have equivalent direct objects, so the coordinated verbs can share the one object: interact with and activate T-cells. ^{96, 97, 98} In growth factor, and cell surface proteins and receptors, subsuming proteins and receptors under cell surface constituents eliminates the second and: growth factor, and cell surface constituents (proteins, receptors). ^{99, 100, 101} One objection to subsuming is the superfluous subsuming word constituents, but subsuming shows unequivocally that cell surface modifies receptors as well as proteins. ¹⁰¹ To induce mitosis or maintain it loses its repeated object as to induce or maintain mitosis. ^{102, 103} Reducing the coordinated pairs progressively, from to induce mitosis or to maintain mitosis through to induce mitosis or to maintain it and to induce mitosis or maintain it to to induce or maintain mitosis, shows that they are infinitive phrases. ¹⁰⁴

Absolute phrases

The absolute phrase contains a noun headword and a present participle, as in with both groups responding similarly. ^{105, 106} The noun is the reason it is termed the absolute, strictly the nominative absolute, and its absoluteness is the result of its being relatively independent of the main clause, an independence that often requires it to open with with. ¹⁰⁵ Its usual position at the end of the sentence over-emphasises it. ¹⁰⁵ It expresses a smooth, literary but wordy narrative style, which seems unconventional compared with the formal descriptive style of research writing. ¹⁰⁵ Its present participle contributes most to that narrative style and conveys an ongoing action, as the progressive tense does, and this presentness can often result in a tense mismatch between the absolute and the conceptual component being conveyed. ¹⁰⁵

The absolute phrase is more frequent in the contextual sections of a journal article than in the experimental ones, which is not unexpected given the greater need for qualification in developing an argument. ¹⁰⁷ The circumlocution and end-position over-emphasis of an absolute phrase are made more distracting by a narrative present tense that disagrees in tense with the conceptual component, and such a distraction can range from dissonance to a nonprofessional tone. ¹⁰⁷ The nonprofessional tone also results from the usual informality of the absolute. ¹⁰⁷

Revising the circumlocution of an absolute phrase can mean syntactic reduction, to an adverb, a compound word, a participial phrase or an infinitive phrase, or replacement by an equally long but conventional structure. ^{107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113} The amount of root blunting was increased for both age groups, with both groups responding similarly becomes The amount of root blunting was similarly increased for both age groups. ^{106, 114, 108} The absolute functions adverbially, being equivalent to the adverb similarly, and the revision emphasises similarly succinctly without being narrative and without repeating both age groups. ¹¹⁵ A statistically significant improvement was observed for tibial length, growth plate (length, width), and body weight, with the magnitude of the improvement appearing to be dose dependent becomes A statistically significant dose-dependent improvement was observed for tibial length, growth plate (length, width), and body weight. ^{116, 117, 109} The compound dose-dependent is equivalent to the whole absolute, which therefore functions adjectivally, and its reduced size and placement next to improvement clarify meaning. ¹¹⁸ In the original, the present tense of the participle appearing is inconsistent with the pastness of past support for the hypothesis. ¹¹⁸ The results must be considered preliminary, with only one animal being examined becomes The results limited to only one animal must be considered preliminary, replacing the absolute with an adjectival past participle phrase. ^{119, 120, 110, 121} The revision conveys with greater clarity the reason the results are preliminary. ¹²¹ The objective of this study was to further investigate the responsiveness of these genes with the ultimate project goal being the elucidation of the molecular mechanism associated with the BMP-2 signalling pathway for osteoblast differentiation becomes The objective of this study was (1) to further investigate and confirm responsiveness of these genes and (2) to elucidate the molecular mechanism associated with the BMP-2 signalling pathway for osteoblast differentiation. ^{122, 123, 111} The absolute is transformed into an infinitive phrase coordinated with the first infinitive phrase, the transformation reduces 21 words to 14, and because each infinitive phrase is long, the phrases are enumerated for clarity. ¹²⁴ In the original, the present participle being is also inconsistent with the pastness of the objective. ¹²⁴ The ingestion of fluoride affects more than one aspect of this system, with the principal effect being porous enamel becomes The ingestion of fluoride affects more than one aspect of this system, but the principal effect is enamel porosity. ^{125, 126, 112} The relation, an equivalence, between the information in the main clause and that of the absolute is clearer when the absolute is coordinated as the independent clause of a compound sentence, an equally long but conventional structure. ¹¹³