mehdi 100
Member
- Joined
- Oct 26, 2013
- Member Type
- Student or Learner
- Native Language
- Persian
- Home Country
- Iran
- Current Location
- Iran
Hi, everybody. My new English teacher told me that “By this I mean” is not suitable for Academic writing because it is spoken. However, my previous English teacher told me that this one is appropriate. Actually he recommended me the book “Insight into IELTS”. According to the book, one can use “By this I mean” or “By … I mean” in academic writing. The book itself is published from Cambridge University and therefore is recommended for IETLS exam.
Here is the example:
In terms of animal races, the outcome is very clear. By this I mean, there is a vast range of animal races in the world. Naturally, there are many races of dogs in the globe compared to 19[SUP]th[/SUP] century.
There are some other similar terms that are subjected to such disagreements, like “here I’m referring to”.
The new teacher suggested me to use “In other words”, “In simple words”, and “To illustrate this fact” instead of “By this I mean” or “here I’m referring to”. Because he told me that I should not personalize the text. Again it’s in contrary with the book.
In the other case, I still find discrepancies between two teachers believes. My old teacher used the term “Generally Speaking” in the formal letter on IELTS exam-Task 1, however, my new teacher opposed and count “Generally Speaking” as spoken terms which is not meet the merits of formal writing.
Here is an example form my previous teacher.
… .The survey focuses on a course of 5 years. Generally speaking, as put forwarded in the figure, the number of people who owned mobiles in the given countries, has at least doubled. France, for instance, witnessed …
What should I do? Should I rely on my new teacher or keep track of the old habits?
I personally think that the what called “spoken” is normal in American Academic writings like TOEFL exam but may not highly recommended on IELTS exam. Please air your views on this issue very fast as I have IELTS exam on 24[SUP]th[/SUP] of April! ;-)
Thank you.
Here is the example:
In terms of animal races, the outcome is very clear. By this I mean, there is a vast range of animal races in the world. Naturally, there are many races of dogs in the globe compared to 19[SUP]th[/SUP] century.
There are some other similar terms that are subjected to such disagreements, like “here I’m referring to”.
The new teacher suggested me to use “In other words”, “In simple words”, and “To illustrate this fact” instead of “By this I mean” or “here I’m referring to”. Because he told me that I should not personalize the text. Again it’s in contrary with the book.
In the other case, I still find discrepancies between two teachers believes. My old teacher used the term “Generally Speaking” in the formal letter on IELTS exam-Task 1, however, my new teacher opposed and count “Generally Speaking” as spoken terms which is not meet the merits of formal writing.
Here is an example form my previous teacher.
… .The survey focuses on a course of 5 years. Generally speaking, as put forwarded in the figure, the number of people who owned mobiles in the given countries, has at least doubled. France, for instance, witnessed …
What should I do? Should I rely on my new teacher or keep track of the old habits?
I personally think that the what called “spoken” is normal in American Academic writings like TOEFL exam but may not highly recommended on IELTS exam. Please air your views on this issue very fast as I have IELTS exam on 24[SUP]th[/SUP] of April! ;-)
Thank you.
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