Cultural Influences On Styles Of Writing And Presenting Ideas

lf you call them to the right path, they will not hear you. You find them looking towards you, but they cannot see you.

 But I, as a deaf man, heard not; and I was as a dumb man that openeth no t his mouth.

Thus I was a man that heareth not, and in whose mouth are no re proofs.

 The f ifth pattern which Kaplan identifies is a common Oriental pat­tern. He calls this ‘an approach by indirection'. The sentences circle round the topic, often defining something in terms of what it is not, and avoid any explicit judgement or conclusions.

Kaplan's analysis is interesting, even though you may not agree totally with his patterns and explanations. Certainly his suggestion of the importance of strict relevance in English writing is supported in the following case of a Thai postgraduate writing a thesis about population changes in northern Thailand . The first chapter of this thesis covered a general summary of the geography, history and culture of Thailand .

The second chapter covered the same features, in more detail, of northern Thailand . In the third chapter, after fifty pages of this general introduction, the student began to provide in­ formation about population patterns. His Australian supervisor crossed out the whole first two chapters because they were ‘not relevant' and suggested the student should have begun with his material in chapter three. His topic, the supervisor said, was the changing population in northern Thailand . Material to do with the