Avoiding prepositional pile-up.

Lorelei Lingard

doi:10.1007/s40037-015-0200-1

Abstract

None

Highlights

After receiving research ethics approval from the review boards at three teaching hospitals affiliated with two universities in urban Ontario, Canada, we asked clinical and educational leaders in each hospital to identify inter-professional clinical health care teams with reputations for strong collaborations and managerial/administrative support
These prepositions require the reader to sift through a host of details that elaborate the main clause—we asked clinical and educational leaders
A writer must ask herself, are these additional details really necessary? And if they are necessary, is a pile of prepositional phrases the best way to present them? In my sentence, five prepositional phrases provide additional detail about the main action before the reader encounters that main action: After receiving research ethics approval—Ethics approval from where?—from the review boards— Which review boards?—at three teaching hospitals—Which hospitals?—affiliated with two universities—Where were these universities?—in urban Ontario, Canada, we asked clinical and educational leaders

Summary

Introduction

After receiving research ethics approval from the review boards at three teaching hospitals affiliated with two universities in urban Ontario, Canada, we asked clinical and educational leaders in each hospital to identify inter-professional clinical health care teams with reputations for strong collaborations and managerial/administrative support. These prepositions require the reader to sift through a host of details that elaborate the main clause—we asked clinical and educational leaders.

Results

Conclusion