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Dileepa Posted 7 years ago
Grammar

Usage of "recalcitrant open-ended problems"

I've found following phrase in one of books that is written by a professor at Harvard university.


recalcitrant open-ended problems


Because of the excellent vocabulary, I thought it would be beneficial for me if I start to use that phrase in my writing. However, my question is I couldn't find usage of this phrase in Ngram or any other websites. Therefore, please someone tell me is this a good phrase to use in formal writing?


The book.

Creative Problem Solving for Managers: Developing Skills for Decision Making and Innovation

Author : Tony Proctor


Ngram search result

https://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?content=recalcitrant+open-ended+problems&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=15&smoothing=3&share=&direct_url=

  

Top answer

dileepa Because of the excellent vocabulary, I thought it would be beneficial for me if I start to use that phrase in my writing. It's not really a phrase that you can "start to use". It is a phrase that you could use maybe once every long while in the right context.

— GPY

  • dileepa Because of the excellent vocabulary, I thought it would be beneficial for me if I start to use that phrase in my writing.
  • It's not really a phrase that you can "start to use".
  • It is a phrase that you could use maybe once every long while in the right context.
  • If you use it multiple times it will very soon stand out.
  • Even if you use it only once it may seem like copying if someone happens to be intimately familiar with the original text (albeit perhaps that is not tremendously likely).
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2 Answers
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dileepaBecause of the excellent vocabulary, I thought it would be beneficial for me if I start to use that phrase in my writing.

It's not really a phrase that you can "start to use". It is a phrase that you could use maybe once every long while in the right context. If you use it multiple times it will very soon stand out. Even if you use it only once it ma

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dileepaBecause of the excellent vocabulary, I thought it would be beneficial for me if I start to use that phrase in my writing.

I don't think that's a good idea. This turn of phrase is unique (as you see from the Ngram). If you want to develop a good writing technique, you want to avoid importing unique phrases into your own writing. Use phrasings that

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