Germanic or something

matlabor lives.

On to a new topic of writing and manuscript reviews:

An example for me to remember from bd:

It is a matter of writing style- but I have never liked the “we must understand” language.  Rather than talking about “must do” just do it.  If you tell us the why’s you don’t need the ‘must’ and it seems so…. Germanic or something.  You use this kind of statement in each of your paragraphs.

Sliding and impact erosion both contribute to total erosion, so to predict bedrock incision rates by granular flows, we must understand the controls on mean and fluctuating boundary forces.

My alternative—no “must”- it is implied and something more is stated:

In natural granular flows in which heterogeneous grain sizes are mixed with a viscous matrix, both sliding and impact erosion likely contribute to bedrock erosion.

No Germanic fist pounding—still new information coming in.  Try it out- it’s fun…

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I shall try, I shall try...