as follows/the following

Hello everyone,

I'd like to know if there is any difference between "as follows" and "the following" in the context below:

"Summarizing the main ideas provided in the previous section we can conclude [as follows / the following]: ......"

I think both options are fine, but "the following" seems better to me. What do you think?

Thanks

Neither option is natural.

'...we can conclude that...'

milan2003_07 said:

Hello everyone,

I'd like to know if there is any difference between "as follows" and "the following" in the context below:

"Summarizing the main ideas provided in the previous section we can conclude [as follows / the following]: ......"

I think both options are fine, but "the following" seems better to me. What do you think?

Thanks

Click to expand...

Rover's is simpler, but both of your proposals are possible.

Rover_KE said:

Neither option is natural.

'...we can conclude that...'

Click to expand...

I agree, Rover, but the problem is that after the construction with "conclude" I'm going to list several items:

..... we can conclude that:

1) .....

2) .....

Such a construction won't work, will it? There should be some general word before listing the items and I was looking for this word/construction. I've decided to choose "We can conclude the following: ....."

I hope it will read well.