Repairing Problems: Strategy 5

REPAIRING PROBLEMS

STRATEGY 5: The Equative Shift

	First-aid for: 'given-new', organising flow, 'light-heavy'

Change the order of the sentence elements by using the equative shift (“X is Y”).

The equative shift allows you to move an idea at the end of the sentence into topic position (beginning of sentence) This works when two “equal” ideas, signalled by the verb “to be”, are exchanged. This shifting of information helps to strengthen weak bonds between sentences because it keeps familiar information in topic position, at the start of a sentence.

Note, however, that this strategy can not be used blindly! For example, when A is a class of B you can say:

A B

Finns are usually good ice-hockey players

(subclass) (class)

However, you cannot reverse the order when B is a subclass of A:

B A

Good ice-hockey players are usually Finns.

(class) (subclass)

Beware! A common problem for Finnish writers of English is overuse of the verb 'to be'. Academic English prefers 'action verbs' instead of 'weak verbs' , such as to be, to have or there is/are (See Avoiding weak verbs).

There are two major cases when the verb 'to be' is appropriate as the main verb. See Using the verb 'to be' to find out more about when you can use to be as the main verb.