Learn English – Is “whatsoever” a formal word in written English
formalityword-choice
The authors make no mention whatsoever about…
Is this sentence appropriate for formal writing?
Best Answer
Whatsoever is perfectly fine if used for emphasis. For example, if you were reviewing a book about desserts, you might say:
The authors make no mention about ice cream.
This is a plain statement, just reporting the facts. Nothing wrong with that. But you might want to go at the matter a little harder.
The authors make no mention whatsoever about ice cream.
This is emphatic, emphasizing the writer's disbelief or disappointment that the authors did not mention ice cream. Probably this writer had hoped a written work about dessert would at least mention ice cream.
There are other constructions you could use for emphasis as well.
The authors make no mention at all about ice cream.
The authors make no mention whatever about ice cream.
The authors make no mention in 547 pages about ice cream.
And so on. The point is, sometimes extra words are fine to use when making a point. And, yes, I like ice cream and would be indignant if a book about dessert were to leave it out.
This may depend on the particular research community. I can say, at least in spoken presentations in a workshop or conference, many communities may find using 'get' just fine... but many other communities would not.
I would personally like to avoid 'get' in formal writing, I guess you mean research articles. To be sure, you should try to check if the community you belong to uses it in their literature. But, if its for emails or blogs, it maybe alright.
Either thus or so would make your first example sentence correct. However, your suggested rephrasing is also correct, and is the form I would recommend.
In the first example, thus and so are both being used as synonyms for therefore and meaning "as a result".
There are many grammatically correct ways to construct a sentence which declares that "because A is true, B is true also." My preference for your rephrasing is based on style and personal opinion, not grammar.
Best Answer
Whatsoever is perfectly fine if used for emphasis. For example, if you were reviewing a book about desserts, you might say:
This is a plain statement, just reporting the facts. Nothing wrong with that. But you might want to go at the matter a little harder.
This is emphatic, emphasizing the writer's disbelief or disappointment that the authors did not mention ice cream. Probably this writer had hoped a written work about dessert would at least mention ice cream.
There are other constructions you could use for emphasis as well.
And so on. The point is, sometimes extra words are fine to use when making a point. And, yes, I like ice cream and would be indignant if a book about dessert were to leave it out.