3 ms·

even "completely different formulation" could convey something different from "different formulation", e.g. "we tweaked the method" vs "we scrapped the method a

• warkdarrior 2y ago
  Don't tell the reader how to feel, but rather guide them to feel that way through your ideas, results, and conclusions.
• akdor1154 2y ago
  His point isn't to ban surprisingly, it's to prefer 'we the authors were surprised it was low' over 'you the reader should find it surprisingly low'.
  • zem 2y ago
    that's my point; to me "the results were surprisingly low" does mean "we the authors were surprised it was low", and reads better than "to our surprise the results were low". my reasoning is that the former is more of a parenthetical, as much as to say "the results were low (and it surprised us)", rather than putting the "us" who were surprised front and centre and making the low results subordinate to that.
• dogmayor 2y ago
  > I also disagree about the "beholder words"; to me "it was surprisingly low" means "I am drawing your attention to the fact that the low value surprised me" rather than "you need to be surprised by the low value". I agree with your interpretation, but here the issue is that "beholder words" don't give the reader the information necessary for them to make their own judgment. Readers are left thinking "ok, but how low is 'surprisingly low?'" Writers should tell the reader the exact number, saying "surprisingly" communicates nothing because it's relative.