Pl. help edit it

[ricardosong]

I would appreciate if you can help correct the rest of the citation and improve its the quality. Thank your so much for your help!


By employing multiple field interface techniques, Prof. X has surmounted a series of problems of grave importance with originality, and launched a succession of milestones in the course of his academic march.

[ricardosong]

Could you just take a brief look at it?

[RonBee]

Prof. X’s research fields cover a wide range; and more significantly, contributions have been made in every study field.

Try:

Prof. X's research covers a great deal of territory; and more significantly, he has made contributions in every field of study.

(That last part seems pretty implausible, to say the least.)

[ricardosong]

RonBee,

Thank you for your comments.

As to the implausibility, I agree that it's some what exaggerated.


Thanks again.

Ricardo

[Tdol]

an internationally leading theory- an internationally accepted theory?? leading doesn't work here

a series of problems of grave importance- great importance (grave is negative to me)
which is just one of the many conjecture proofs worked out by Prof. X. - I wouldn't use his name again here

[ricardosong]

Thank you Tdol.

As to the word "grave", I do see your sense about it, but in Merriam-Webster, it goes like this:

Main Entry: 4grave
Pronunciation: 'grAv, in sense 5 often 'gräv
Function: adjective
Inflected Form(s): grav·er; grav·est
Etymology: Middle French, from Latin gravis heavy, grave -- more at GRIEVE
1 a obsolete : AUTHORITATIVE, WEIGHTY b : meriting serious consideration : IMPORTANT <grave problems> c : likely to produce great harm or danger <a grave mistake> d : significantly serious : CONSIDERABLE, GREAT <grave importance>2 : having a serious and dignified quality or demeanor <a grave and thoughtful look>
3 : drab in color : SOMBER
4 : low-pitched in sound
5 a of an accent mark : having the form ` b : marked with a grave accent c : of the variety indicated by a grave accent

But, on the other hand, as a native speaker, you are always right. I know a dicionary doesn't tell everything.

Thank you so much for your help.

[Tdol]

If you look at all of those, they are serious and carry a negative tone- grave news would be a death or suchlike- serious, but grim.
Here's a list of some of the most common words associated with 'grave' (searched at http://view.byu.edu/ ) and you will see what I mean.

3 concern
46 danger
35 doubts
32 goods
31 foot
29 face
27 cradle
20 risk
13 situation
13 risk
12 consequences
12 problems
11 pauper
10 father
10 matter
9 error
9 expression
9 mistake
9 side
9 threat
9 reservations
8 giant
8 offence
8 misgivings
7 case
7 family
7 head
7 voice
7 war
7 difficulties
6 bottom
6 difficulty
6 discovery
6 injustice
6 breaches
6 charges


BTW, do use this site- it's fantastic for getting more information about a word- you can search a huge database (The British National corpus). Here I asked it for the nouns coming immediately after 'grave'. Do try it- it can help where dictionaries may fall down.

[ricardosong]

Yes, Tdol, I found it really fantastic. I need to spend some time on it.

You helped me a lot!!! I feel grateful indeed.

Thanks.

[Tdol]

It's a vewry good site- play with the anchors lower down on the left- very useful. It's searching the British National Corpus, which is a massive database of written and spoken language.

[ricardosong]

Yes, that's true.

I've learned how to work with it, i.e, at least, I figured out what you had done to get the results with the word "grave'.

Thanks a lot