ABSTRACT
The sentences contained within academic writing are never going to compete with a thrilling novel or be as elegant as a finely crafted poem, but style is something we need to be aware of and get right. In this atmosphere of political retrenchment, Barbauld began a new phase of her intellectual life, codifying a tradition of literary value, and reinforcing the ethical codes she had believed in all her life. One of the key elements of good academic writing style is clarity. Nominalisations, or ‘zombie nouns’ as Helen Sword calls them, obscure clarity and weaken ‘communicative dynamism’ by turning action into abstract ideas and things. Clarity and precision are also more persuasive. One of the most important things to consider in academic writing is the need to get to the point.
