Introduction
Academic writing is an official piece of writing. The purpose of academic writing is to share information. It is also used for evaluating the knowledge gained. Many ways can make a piece of academic writing efficient. Using grammatical aids helps in improving the content’s quality. Many literature tools are effective in improving content quality. Metaphor is one of those tools used for ascribing quality to the content. Many students can get confused about the use of these grammatical tools. This is because the use of metaphor in academic writing is high. Every type of content uses metaphor writing.
Let’s see what metaphors are, and whether you can use them within writing or not.
A grammatical metaphor is one of the tools that enhances the quality of writing. In speaking, we often use more words. But when we convert those into writing, there will be fewer words. The choice of words and sentences gives a proper meaning, but in less space. The metaphors provide this service. The use of a few clauses gives a more precise meaning. This Metaphors can also be used as tools for effective academic writing. Suppose you are writing an essay, or an article. In this case, usage of metaphors will give more meaning to the content. It can also highlight important concepts, and ideas.
According to the assignment writing service company, in traditional literature, metaphor is a language that calls attention to itself. It helps in verifying the hypotheses. It gives an underpinning, and theoretical justification to the highlighted concepts. The academic literature can benefit a lot from its use.
Often many meanings are being associated with the term metaphor. Metaphor is a figure of speech, with a rhetorical effect to the concept. Sometimes it also includes literary terms like Similes. It gives a comparison between the different ideas, or concepts. The basic quality is being ascribed to first concept, or idea. The most commonly used metaphor is of grammatical context. It gives more meaning to the sentences. The structure of the text is clearer. Writing the metaphor is important. Its placement within the text is also important. If you are placing a metaphor in between the jargons, it might get overlooked. Writing the metaphor after 1st sentence gives a proper direction to the content. This helps follow the related concepts of metaphor.
There are certain characteristics of metaphor. These are highlighted as follows;
- The subject in clause is not the one being assumed.
- It must point the reader in a specific direction.
- Metaphors can show that one thing causes another. It writes it in one clause under one concept. In general writing, it takes more than one sentence.
- It has better use in referential discourse.
- The use of metaphor can be confusing in different articles.
Purpose of using metaphor in academic writing
The main purpose of metaphor usage is to give a stronger view of the concept being discussed. It supports writing structure of the article. Other than providing comparison of two concepts, it has the following two purposes;
Provide a clear image of the text
When a reader is going through subject matter, he is looking for the main idea. The concepts that have complex meanings cannot only be described in some sentences. Using the approach of metaphorical explanation clears out complex concepts. It is up to the writer to come up with a relevant metaphor. It saves time of the reader, and writer both. The writer will have to spend less time explaining the long paragraphs. The reader will save time by reading small paragraphs.
To explain the unambiguity of the situation
The use of metaphor is important for explaining ambiguity to the situation. It helps illuminate events that are being discussed within the text.
Give a structure to the texts
One main purpose of using metaphorical sentences is to shorten the texts. Grammatical metaphors are used for shortening the clauses. The constructed metaphor becomes easy to read. Short clauses have clear nouns. In English literature, nouns provide more information on events rather than long clauses. For example, Environmental pollution causes health issues. This clause is short with the complete use of metaphor. This sentence gives a clear, and direct image of the information.
Helps in connecting the ideas and concepts
The most important function of the use of metaphors is that of connectivity. Metaphors connect the sentences. It gives them a whole structure by connecting one line to the other. The reader will find it easy to understand the text if it has high connectivity of ideas. If the idea or concept is not evenly discussed, it might cause difficulty in understanding. For this purpose, if the writer changes the verb to a noun, it will do the trick. For example, changing the verb ‘decided’ with the ‘decision’ noun. The word ‘decision’ has a more meaningful idea attached to it.
Provides a formal image to the content
While writing something, the sentences are most often haphazard. Using metaphors can make the situation better. This is because metaphors have more meaningful ideas in fewer words. It creates a distance between the reader and the writer. This distance is necessary for the reader to understand the concepts. In the case of a writer, it helps write the content in a better way.
There are some things that you should keep in mind while using metaphor;
- Avoid using too many metaphors in a paragraph, or essay.
- Look for the appropriate placement of metaphors.
- Similes and metaphors are different things.
- Don’t use the same metaphor every time in repartition.
- Too many metaphors will make your piece of writing light weighted. This is because it will have less evidence-based support.
Conclusion
In academic literature, scientific writing uses many grammatical tools. These grammatical tools help explain the system’s working. This means that it justifies the concepts, and ideas of writing. It directs the readers to go from concepts to the main ideas. It’s a navigational tool that justifies philosophical ideas. It helps authors in conveying the idea. The placement and quantity of the use of metaphor is also important.
