ABSTRACT
Young professionals are not to be blamed for excessive use of abstract round-about style, because usually they are simply trying to observe a ‘rule’ imposed on them by less discerning teachers of science than Sir George Pickering (whose advice on abstract jargon was quoted earlier). The rule is that scientific reports and papers must be written in the past tense, passive voice and third person (or impersonal). It is a bad rule. I believe it is responsible for much of the stupefying ponderousness of expression in scientific writing.
