I want to write something along the lines of:
For the purposes of this study, X was developed from scratch.
But the "scratch" here doesn't sound very formal, does it?
Is "from the ground up" any better than "from scratch" in terms of formality? I guess no?
What would be a good way to express this, without sounding too lame? I do want to make it clear that the X really was built, uh, from the ground up.
For what it's worth, the X here is a completely abstract thing. (Think of software, for example.)
Best Answer
"From the ground up", which you mentioned, is actually fine in a professional context, as well, if you don't mind the mental association with buildings and construction.